Politics, Legal & Regulation

December 23, 2016 @ 1:14 pm By Jessica Pham  |  

Weapons present in the South China Sea.  The U.S. backs out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. South Korea’s president facing impeachment.  Duterte wins the Philippines presidential election. These are just a few of the explosive economic and political events that have continued to unfold in the… Read More

December 21, 2016 @ 11:49 am By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is an important aspect of investor protection in the UK.  Similar in function to the US FDIC, certain financial accounts are insured by the government against financial loss. During the past two years, the FSCS paid out £271 million… Read More

December 19, 2016 @ 5:20 pm By Jessica Pham  |  

Iowa is aiming to become the Most Connected State in the Midwest as Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds announced a crowdsourced project to provide broader access to broadband.  The Blue Ribbon Initiative will be a private-public partnership that aims to raise $2… Read More

December 19, 2016 @ 7:00 am By David Burton  |  

Capital formation and entrepreneurship improve economic growth, productivity and real wages. Existing securities laws impede entrepreneurial capital formation. To promote prosperity, Congress and a reconstituted Securities and Exchange Commission need to systematically reduce or eliminate state and federal regulatory barriers hindering entrepreneurs’ access to capital…. Read More

December 18, 2016 @ 6:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

During the past 15 years, the number of emerging growth companies entering the capital markets through IPOs has plummeted relative to historical norms. This trend has transcended economic cycles during that period and has hobbled U.S. job creation. In fact, by one estimate, the decline… Read More

December 16, 2016 @ 5:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

There will soon be a new office at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Today, President Barack Obama signed into law HR 3784 or the SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016.  The legislation passed the Senate without amendment late last week (December 9, 2016). The… Read More

December 16, 2016 @ 8:07 am By Jessica Pham  |  

Justen Hyde, a software engineer with Emergent Design Ltd, began crowdfunding eight days ago on JustGiving to address the Brexit fallout.  His initial goal?  Raise £3,959 (approximately $5,000) within a month to send every Member of Parliament — all 650 of them — a copy of “Brexit:… Read More

December 14, 2016 @ 4:30 pm By Barry James  |  

The time has come for crowdfunding to mature – or die, and be reabsorbed by the body politic (or should that be that body corporate). You don’t hear people talk about “the democratisation of finance” much any more. Why is that? We’ve seen growing pains… Read More

December 14, 2016 @ 12:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings is out with a note on the recently announced Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Fintech charter. The OCC has crafted a document to allow digital banks to become regulated entities by receiving federal bank charters. Fitch is of the opinion the Fintech charter… Read More

December 13, 2016 @ 10:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to multiple reports, the Italian Stability Law for 2017 extends investment crowdfunding to all small and medium companies that want to raise capital online. Previously only “innovative” SMEs were able to raise capital online but now crowdfunding will be opened up to the 136,000… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 10:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Equidate has settled with the SEC for selling unregistered swaps involving pre-IPO companies. The San Francisco-based Fintech firm agreed to settle the charges it had violated federal securities laws by failing to register security-based swaps that were sold online to shareholders in pre-IPO companies. Equidate stopped offering security-based… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 10:23 pm By Jessica Pham  |  

European fintech company figo, based in Germany, secured as a part of its Series B fundraising at the end of last month a €6.8 million (approximately $7.2 million) investment from Deutsche Börse Group.  The firm’s latest project is expanding its banking API products and services… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 4:30 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

2016 brought with it many developments in the crowdfunding industry, most notably the introduction of the long-awaited Title III crowdfunding. While admittedly not all crowdfunding legislation passed  was as influential, there have been significant strides made to improve existing securities regulations and to continue prying… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 1:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a market study to review the mortgage sector. The research hopes to determine whether or not there is sufficient competition in this sector of finance.  Competition helps consumers as providers are compelled to provide better services.  When a… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 9:55 am By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Reserve released a report on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) or Blockchain last week. The document reviews the potential and challenges for the new technology to disrupt and benefit financial services.  The Federal Reserve is correctly reviewing DLT – just as other central banks… Read More

December 12, 2016 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Enforcement Director Andrew J. Ceresney will depart the agency by the end of the year. Ceresney has been with the SEC for four years as the head of SEC Enforcement – the largest division of the… Read More

December 11, 2016 @ 6:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 or HR 3784 passed the Senate on Friday (December 9, 2016) as part of a last-minute legislative push before Congress adjourns for the holiday season. The bill passed the House earlier this year meaning the bill will… Read More

December 10, 2016 @ 3:10 pm By Jessica Pham  |  

Malaysia’s Securities Commission (SC) announced last month that six P2P platforms were registered and would continue to be overseen by the Government of Malaysia, making Malaysia the first ASEAN country to regulate P2P financing.  The six platforms include B2B FinPAL, Ethis Kapital, FundedByMe Malaysia, ManagePay Services, Modalku Ventures,… Read More

December 9, 2016 @ 12:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

Gillian Roche-Saunders, a partner at the law firm of  Bates, Wells & Braithwaite in London, works with many of the largest UK alternative finance platforms in operation. She has been highly engaged with the FCA and crowdfunding / P2P platforms regarding compliance and regulatory approval. Crowdfund… Read More

December 9, 2016 @ 10:37 am By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published an interim report on crowdfunding regulation today. The report was widely anticipated by both the investment based and debt based crowdfunding sector. This is the second interim statement since initial rules were published in 2014. The regulatory approach by… Read More