Tagged: regulations

Verification of International Accredited Investors: What You Need to Do

International investors have always played an important role in providing capital to private placement offers.  The private placement market under Regulation D is enormous. Since Title II made actionable by the SEC in September of 2013, until the end of 2014, over $1.5 trillion in… Read More

ASSOB Tells the Australian Government What is Wrong About Proposed Equity Crowdfunding Rules

New regulations designed to facilitate investment crowdfunding are weaving their way through the rule making process in Australia. Recently proposed rules have engendered both support and criticism. This past December, the Aussie Senate referred the updated proposal of the “Crowd-Sourced Funding Bill” to the Economics… Read More

The 2016 International State of Play of Retail Equity Crowdfunding

  The recent changes in the retail equity crowdfunding regulatory environment make this a useful time to take stock of the international landscape and compare regimes between countries. Some countries have moved faster than others, and different countries have taken different approaches to regulation, ranging… Read More

UK Alternative Finance Grows by 84% to £3.2 Billion in 2015

    The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Nesta have released their much-anticipated report on alternative forms of finance tracking results for 2015. The research was completed in partnership with KPMG and with the support of CME Group Foundation. Entitled”Pushing Boundaries”, the… Read More

Slow Moving: Australian Investment Crowdfunding Rules Plod Along

  In Australia, the process to update the regulatory environment to facilitate equity crowdfunding has been a long journey. Back in 2014,  proposed rules by the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) were criticized by one industry leader as “totally unworkable”. No need to say more. At… Read More

Real Estate Crowdfunding Calls French Crowdfunding Regulation Into Question

Real estate crowdfunding started late in 2014 in France. But, hardly a year later, it is going strong with 26 platforms vying for a share of the market. However, as crowdfunding moves from real estate development to buy-to-let projects, new platforms are encountering some resistance… Read More

Crowdfunding Portals Prepare for Title III Retail Crowdfunding

Last week both the SEC and FINRA finalized the rules for funding portals to offer securities under Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012.  The journey to get to this place has been long and at times challenging as regulators and industry participants debated… Read More

FINRA Crowdfunding Portal Rules Posted (Document)

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the FINRA crowdfunding portal rules and related forms. These new rules apply to portals that seek to operate under Title III of the JOBS Act and are not affiliated with a Broker – Dealer.  They are effective as… Read More

FINRA Portal Rules for Equity Crowdfunding Under Title III of the JOBS Act

As expected, the funding portal rules operating under Title III of the JOBS Act have hit the pages of the Federal Register.  Platforms intent on leveraging the new exemption to issue securities of up to $1 million are able to start the process of registering… Read More

SEC Files Notice of Amendment & Accelerated Approval for Reg CF Funding Portal Rules (Document)

The Securities and Exchange Commission submitted a filing last Friday regarding FINRA’s regulatory role pertaining to investment crowdfunding portals operating under Title III of the JOBS Act.  According to the SEC, FINRA just responded (January 21st) to several comment letters and the Commission is now… Read More

Does the SEC Want to Create a Regulatory Approach for Cross Border Equity Crowdfunding Offers?

Keith Higgins, Director the Division of Corporate Finance of the SEC, travelled to the UK last week to keynote a speech at the Fifteenth Annual Institute of Securities Regulation in Europe.  The speech, entitled; “International Developments -Past, Present & Future, launched into the premise of… Read More

Thai Securities & Exchange Commission Seeks Comments on Proposed Crowdfunding Rules

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules for investment crowdfunding including the supervision of the investment portals. The SEC states that the proposed rules aim to establish a standard framework for operating crowdfunding portals. The supervised areas include measures and implementation against conflicts… Read More

CFIRA Responds to SEC On Proposed Regulatory Changes.

  As you may be aware, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently considering sweeping changes to some of the most long-standing rules and regulations governing private transactions. These changes include fundamental revisions of both Rule 501, the definition of “accredited investor” and arguably… Read More

Regulations Galore Part II: Peer to Peer Lending in China

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (“CBRC”) issued the highly anticipated draft rules for online lending on December 28, 2015. Ever since the State Council guidelines (“the Guidelines”) for the Chinese internet finance industry were issued in July, rumors about the timing of the online lending… Read More

CFIRA Reminds SEC the Time is Now to Update Definition of an Accredited Investor

There is a mandate under Dodd-Frank to review the definition of an “Accredited Investor” on a rolling basis.  As it stands today, Accredited Investors are individuals with incomes over $200,000 per year or $1 million in assets beyond a person’s primary residence. If you are… Read More

Potential Pitfalls of Regulation CF – Part II: Practical Concerns for Funding Portals

As discussed in part one, the SEC’s final Regulation Crowdfunding rules require thorough analysis to not fall prey to potential traps. While I firmly believe that we can make crowdfunding work regardless of the roadblocks set forth, it does not mean that we can afford… Read More

HMRC Explains Income Tax on Interest Earned from P2P Loans

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) department, the agency responsible for the collection of taxes, has published its current “position” on the requirement to deduct income tax on interest paid on peer to peer loans. According to HMRC, under existing tax rules in Chapter 3… Read More

SEC Adopts New Rules that Revise Financial Reporting for Smaller Firms as Mandated by the FAST Act

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted “interim final rules” as mandated by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation or FAST Act that was passed by Congress in December.  These new rules revise financial reporting for emerging growth companies (EGCs) and smaller reporting companies.  EGCs… Read More

The Top 10 Crowdfunding Legal Developments of 2015

  2015 could go down as the most active year for regulatory reform in the private securities market since 1940.   After a long delay since passage of the JOBS Act in 2012, we saw an unprecedented flurry of regulatory activity in 2015. Without further… Read More

Reserve Bank of India is Actively Studying Peer to Peer Lending

Like the rest of the world, India is moving forward with new forms of finance. Last month, the Securities and Exchange Board of India stated it would reveal crowdfunding norms “soon”.  Now at a conference taking place in Mumbai, R. Gandhi, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of… Read More

Send this to a friend