Here are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my eye:
April 5 Webcast: The SEC’s Asset Management Unit and Strategies for Avoiding Trouble in 2011 and Beyond in Securities Docket
In this webcast, Bruce Karpati, the co-head of the SEC’s Asset Management unit since its inception, will discuss his unit’s successes over the past year, and what it is currently prioritizing and pursuing. He will be joined on the panel by John Reed Stark, Managing Director of Stroz Friedberg and former Chief, SEC Office of Internet Enforcement; and Bradley J. Bondi, a litigation partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP and former counsel to SEC Commissioners Troy Paredes and Paul Atkins for enforcement matters.
Wall Street’s Biggest Bargain May Be Wall Street Office Space by David M. Levitt in Bloomberg
Demand for downtown space, like in much of the city, froze after the global credit crisis and plunge in financial-industry jobs. Wall Street was hurt by two additional factors: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s decision to sublease space at a building a block south, and departures at Donald Trump’s 40 Wall St., the biggest multitenant tower on the street, according to Shapses.
Luddites and the Law by Simon Fodden in SLAW
Over the last couple of decades as the rate of change in information technology has accelerated, it’s become fashionable for some to claim with pride and others to award with scorn the title of Luddite. As it happens, this March marks the bicentennial of the real Luddite uprising in the north of England. Richard Conniff has written a piece, “What the Luddites Really Fought Against,” that’s available on Smithsonian.com, correcting the misunderstandings that most of us have about who these followers of Ludd actually were and why they took to breaking machines.
Financial services & corruption: Private Equity in the spotlight? and Financial Services: M&A, Private Equity and the lifebelt in thebriberyact.com
We wrote on Tuesday about Private Equity and increased interest by US investigators. Anti-corruption and money laundering laws touch on Financial Services and Private Equity in a number of ways. One obvious hot spot is M&A activity. The US Securities & Exchange Commission has recently targeted Private Equity for activities of a portfolio company. We wrote yesterday that what happens accross the Atlantic has a habit of turning up in the UK.