Existing FINRA generally prohibits an AP from borrowing money from (or lending money to) a customer. This rule proposal further addresses the concern that an AP may attempt to manipulate a customer, particularly a senior customer. On the one hand, the rule proposal would require firms to make a judgment that seems well outside the normal course of the securities business; on the other hand, firms do routinely have to determine whether a customer is making a genuinely independent decision.…

Problems that OCIE identified involving inadequate review by a fund's board, particularly by its independent directors, are notable. Highlighted problems include the fund's advisory contract and the adviser's investment decisions. Directors must be mindful that they are subject to disciplinary action by the SEC if their oversight is deemed to be insufficient. See, e.g., . It should be a first priority of fund's compliance and legal staff to remedy any shortcomings in the materials made…

Commissioner Peirce asks the "big picture" questions. Her answers reflect considerations for the long term. She is absolutely right that the SEC should be judged neither by the number of enforcement actions that it brings in a year nor by the amount of fines that it collects. Rather, the regulator's performance should be based on whether the agency adopts rules that make sense, whether it enforces those rules in a way that protect investors, and whether the SEC's overall impact is to the…

Cash management appears likely to be a principal focus of the SEC for the next year. As trade execution fees drop, even to zero, and Regulation Best Interest imposes further regulatory burdens on firms that make recommendations to retail investors, the business of being a full-service broker-dealer for retail investors is facing a lot of challenges.