Assuming that FINRA "considers a proposal," one wonders whether the Treasury and SEC will be able to make use of the information collected. After all, it is increasingly evident that part of the reason for increased volatility in the market is not the result of "bad" behavior, but rather from diminished liquidity resulting in part from increased regulatory and capital costs. Anyone attempting to argue that the costs exceed the benefits of such a central information collecting scheme…

This case may be the first in which a whistleblower award was granted to an employee who did not produce evidence that initiated a case, but rather evidence that furthered an ongoing investigation of which the employee was aware. For those who find the concept of whistleblower payments troubling, at least in the case of whistleblowers who do not first raise the issue within their own organization, this case should raise the level of discomfort. In effect, the SEC offers a bounty to…

The high-profile, high-penalty success cited by Director Ceresney will whet the SEC appetite for more investigations in this area. Private equity firms would be well advised to review Director Ceresney's speech and consider whether they are vulnerable to the kinds of enforcement actions he cites. The focus of a firm's internal reviews should be on practices that give rise to conflicts of interest.

Here are a few more recommendations to add to the OFR's list: (i) consider the costs of collecting the information, (ii) determine whether the means of requesting information are standardized adequately to yield comparable data from different sources, (iii) determine whether the means of transmitting the information actually exist, (iv) ascertain whether there is a way to store the information, (v) confirm that a method is in place for assessing the success or failure of the information…