Essentially, the ICI's response to the SEC may be summarized as follows: like the concept; hate the implementation (as in really, really, really hate it!). Notwithstanding its "strong endorsement" of the concept, the ICI characterizes the actual requirements as "encumbered," "a setback," "misguided," proposing a classification scheme that is "not a recognized or sound . . . practice," providing a "misleading picture," imposing "enormous operational burdens," introducing "new risks,…

It would be helpful if the OFR explained how it picks the categories of financial risk that it elects to investigate. While it might be true that the selected securities activities pose a material risk to the economy, they certainly are not the activities that pose the greatest risk. Here are a few examples that might pose greater risk to the economy: the near insolvency of Puerto Rico, as well as the insolvency of a number of cities like Detroit, indicates that municipal bankruptcy is…

This case serves as a tough reminder for non-U.S. financial organizations that they must impose procedures to prevent themselves from dealing with U.S. customers even when the choice is unintentional. Otherwise, they risk subjecting themselves to the U.S. regulatory regime.  

That said, the significant question raised by this case concerns the regulatory culture in the United States: what possible justification could there have been for levying a $140,000 fine against the foreign…

Given the uncertain requirements that are imposed on firms by the NFA's cyber guidance, attending one of the conferences and listening carefully to what the NFA says is important.