Politics, Legal & Regulation

July 9, 2015 @ 2:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

As part of the UK government’s budget policy, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne affirmed that soon (April 2016) ISAs will allow for peer to peer lending assets to be part of a savers portfolio.  Osborne also stated the government will consider allowing equity crowdfunded… Read More

July 9, 2015 @ 12:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee has scheduled its next meeting for July 16th, from 9:30AM to 3:30PM at the SEC headquarters in Washington, DC. These meetings are open to the public but the SEC also live-streams proceedings on their web site. The SEC IAC was… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 2:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (ACSEC) has scheduled a call for July 15th at 1PM ET to discuss the issue of “finders”.  This references the regulatory treatment of individuals who connect investors with companies seeking capital. The rules regarding finders remain… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 2:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission only recently finalized rules on Title IV of the JOBS Act, commonly referred to as Regulation A+.  While old Regulation A has been around for quite some time, few utilized the exemption as it was encumbered with costly, and time… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 1:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Korean National Assembly has passed a set of laws to boost economic growth and incorporated in the new legislation was an act that legalizes crowdfunding.  According to a report by G3 Partners based in Seoul, prior to these new rules entrepreneurs were limited to… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 11:27 am By JD Alois  |  

  The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s summer budget was said to put economic security first and was a plan for “working people”. But incorporated in the policy statement was also aspects that should benefit disruptive financial firms on both the debt and equity side of… Read More

July 8, 2015 @ 1:29 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

  China has still not issued crowdfunding regulations, leading big developers to seek out legal advice when employing crowdfunding, according to a recent article in the South China Morning Post. Given that the mainland authorities have also not licensed any crowdfunding platform, industry experts suggest that the… Read More

July 5, 2015 @ 8:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Office of the Investor Advocate is a relatively new addition to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its creation was mandated by Dodd-Frank which was enacted in 2010.  This new regulatory role is required by statute to file two separate reports each year: A report on… Read More

July 2, 2015 @ 3:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has been tasked with a mission to change and adapt to present day financial market realities.  Charged with the very important role of investor protection, and market efficiency, the FCA also maintains a mission to encourage competition.  It is this… Read More

July 1, 2015 @ 11:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Malaysia has been at the forefront of countries in Asia advocating on behalf of capital access and innovative finance.  Largely championed by the Securities Commission, Malaysia now becomes the first country in the Asean region to have a defined regulatory environment to facilitate investment crowdfunding…. Read More

July 1, 2015 @ 3:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, has taken an outsized approach to promoting, and improving, the state of Arizona.  He was quoted last month in the Capitol Times as saying; “What we’re not going to have are overly aggressive regulators who are going beyond the scope… Read More

July 1, 2015 @ 12:14 pm By Anthony Zeoli  |  

  Last week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued  a Cease and Desist Order (the “Order” embedded below) against two related companies for acting as unregistered broker-dealers in connection with the sale of securities under the “EB-5” Investor Program (also sometimes referred to… Read More

June 26, 2015 @ 6:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

“High-quality, easily comparable financial information on the companies seeking crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending should be available across borders” state MEPs The European Parliament issued a statement last week regarding the hot topic of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) across the European Union. One of the… Read More

June 25, 2015 @ 5:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Montana will become the next state that has legalized intrastate crowdfunding.  The bill becomes law on July 1st and is designed to ease capital access for entrepreneurs in need of capital in the Big Sky state.   Speaking with the ABC affiliate, Jesse Laslovich, Chief… Read More

June 24, 2015 @ 3:02 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

  On June 23, 2015, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission provided some public guidance on certain issues arising under the new Regulation A+ Final Rules. In a new section of the SEC’s Compliance and Disclosure and Interpretations (C&DI’s),  a Q and A… Read More

June 23, 2015 @ 10:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The states of Massachusetts and Montana have filed a joint preliminary statement of issues. Once again the two state securities regulators, William Galvin in Massachusetts and Monica Lindeen in Montana, are reiterating their criticism of the SEC and recently enacted rules for Regulation A+. The… Read More

June 23, 2015 @ 9:52 am By JD Alois  |  

The German Crowdfunding Network joined a broad coalition of business advocates last month to plead with the German government to not raise taxes on capital gains. Typically politicians are always in search of revenue (new taxes) to spend on public projects and services. Some with merit,… Read More

June 22, 2015 @ 7:30 am By Samuel Guzik  |  

And Regulation A+’s Forgotten Crowdfunding Cousin Quietly Comes to Life in Congress Some History Lessons Though some may quibble over the details, June 19, 2015, was an historic day in U.S. regulatory history, at least as far as raising capital for small businesses is concerned… Read More

June 18, 2015 @ 7:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Indiegogo has been very forthright about it’s intent on entering into investment crowdfunding.  While the process may be similar to its rewards based platform today, investment crowdfunding is a highly regulated space where the SEC, and others, will always be on guard. Tomorrow, Title IV… Read More

June 18, 2015 @ 11:45 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

As you may know, Montana has filed a “Petition For Review” to challenge the final rules adopted by the SEC under Title IV of the JOBS Act (commonly referred to as Regulation A+). In connection with its suit, Monica J. Lindeen, Montana State Auditor and… Read More