These are some of the compliance-related stories that caught my attention this week.
FINRA warns public about fake . . . FINRA
by Richard L. Cassin
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) warned about con artists posing as FINRA to make phony investment pitches. Scammers are using FINRA’s name and logo in letters that say FINRA is guaranteeing investments. The letters include a fake signature from FINRA president and CEO Robert W. Cook. [More…]
When The Sport of Curling Should Make Your Hair Curl
by Adam Turteltaub
In the You Can’t Make This Up Department, reports out of Korea indicate that a Russian curler has tested positive for a banned substance. Yup, doping in curling. Doping in sports is not so surprising these days. Doping from a Russian athlete, not so shocking either. But doping in curling? Really? Curling? I mean, seriously? Have you watched the sport? I don’t deny that it’s harder than it looks, it is probably quite physical, and I know I couldn’t make the US Olympic curling team, but really? [More…]
2018 Cross-Industry Compliance Staffing and Budget Benchmarking and Guidance Survey
by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
On the following pages are a series of data tables that can be used to benchmark compliance program budgets and staffing by several factors. As you review the data, keep in mind that this data should be considered directional in nature. Different companies of the same size will likely have very different histories in terms of compliance issues and risks. [More…]
Six Do’s and Don’ts of Due Diligence Questionnaires
by Kristy Grant-Hart
Due diligence questionnaires are a critical tool for understanding third-parties. But they can quickly get out of control, putting unreasonable burdens on the answering party, and at worst, invading the privacy of individuals in wholly unnecessary ways. How do you balance the legitimate need for information with the reality that no questionnaire can fully protect the company from the possibility that the third-party will misbehave? Here are three do’s and don’ts when it comes to due diligence questionnaires. [More…]
SEC’s Jackson questions rationale for dual-class ‘forever shares’
By Mark S. Nelson, J.D.
New SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson hit the ground running in his first substantive speech as a commissioner by taking on the topic of the proliferation of companies that have adopted dual-class share structures. Jackson’s speech in San Francisco at a Silicon Valley event on M&A, antitrust, and governance issues comes at a time when initial public offerings (IPOs) have become scarcer and an abundance of private capital allows growing start-ups to remain private longer, thus giving the founders of some companies that do go public the leverage to demand share structures that may protect their jobs. For Jackson, though, the question is one of how long a company should retain a dual-class structure post-IPO rather than a debate about the merits and demerits of such structures. He said the outcome of the debate over dual-class structures may have long term implications for Main Street investors. [More…]