A few months ago, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton stated that the SEC had been hard at work on developing its rule-making agenda for the upcoming year.
In the coming weeks and months, I expect the SEC’s near-term rulemaking objectives to be fully reflected in our upcoming Regulatory Flexibility Act Agenda. As a general matter, I believe it is important that these publicly available agendas provide the necessary transparency and accountability for agency matters. If these plans are to meet their intended purpose, they must be streamlined to inform Congress, investors, issuers and other interested parties about what the SEC actually intends – and realistically expects – to accomplish over the coming year.
The SEC released its Regulatory Flexibility Act Agenda for 2017 and grouped the agenda into two categories: Proposed Rules and Final Rules and Long Term Actions.
The “Existing Proposed & Final Rule Stages” are rule-makings the the SEC intends to address during 2017. For those rule-makings that have progressed to some extent, there is a prediction as to when a final rule might occur. The “Long-Term Actions” rule-makings are supposedly that the SEC isn’t likely to tackle in the near term.
In going though the proposed rules and final rules, I didn’t see much that would directly affect private funds.
I did see that the dreaded proposed changes to Form D and private placements is not on the agenda and was formally withdrawn in September.
Sources:
- Agency Rule List – Fall 2017 Proposed Rules and Final Rules
- Agency Rule List – Fall 2017 Long Term Actions
- Status of rule on Amendments to Regulation D, Form D and Rule 156 Under the Securities Act RIN: 3235-AL46
- SEC Chairman Clayton Testimony on “Oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission” Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs September 26, 2017
- Reg Flex Agenda: The New-Fangled One Is Here! by Broc Romanek
- What’s on the Agenda—the SEC’s Regulatory Flexibility Agenda, that is? by Cydney Posner
- What’s Next For Private Funds Now that the SEC has Lifted the Ban on General Solicitation