July 20, 2017 @ 7:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commissioner Michael Piwowar, who was Acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) until the successful appointment of Jay Clayton, visited with David Burton of the Heritage Foundation earlier this week providing a unique glimpse into the world of the SEC. Burton, who is… Read More

July 10, 2017 @ 10:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a new rule to ban financial companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses. The CFPB said these rules have denied people their day in court. Many consumer financial products like credit cards and bank accounts have arbitration clauses in… Read More

July 9, 2017 @ 12:37 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), which allows for true equity crowdfunding by small businesses and start-ups, has been in effect for over a year now. The amount of capital raised since Reg CF was launched last year has been steadily increasing as well as the number… Read More

July 7, 2017 @ 3:36 pm By Cole Lyons  |  

It is fair to say that over the past couple years, Fintech has taken the financial industry by storm. Their new-age approach to classic finance has added value to both companies and consumers. Because of this, many countries have decided to ride this wave of… Read More

June 28, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has weighed in on the burgeoning Fintech sector of finance. The FSB has been analyzing “financial stability implications” potentially created by Fintech innovation. The FSB says it is specifically seeking to identify “supervisory and regulatory issues that merit authorities’ attention”…. Read More

June 8, 2017 @ 3:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

Some crowdfunding platforms are accepting money from international investors. First, to clarify, is is allowable under US regulations but there are caveats to the rules. In the US, there are three different securities exemptions where you can publicly promote your offerings online: Reg D (506c),… Read More

June 5, 2017 @ 9:25 am By Joshua G. Hamilton, James H. Moon & Bret M. Geckeler  |  

Crowdfunding regulations were enacted with the goal of providing small businesses access to capital without imposing arduous registration and disclosure burdens.[i]  In that regard, the regulations have shown significant promise. Commentators have rightfully highlighted the substantial benefits to both issuers and investors based on their… Read More

June 3, 2017 @ 1:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is looking to streamline the process of financial innovation by creating a special license for Fintech firms called the “Innovation Testing License” or ITL.  The DFSE said the ITL signals the “next phase” in their regulatory roadmap to increase… Read More

May 29, 2017 @ 1:17 pm By Barry James  |  

It may be counterintuitive but the research has been done and the results are now in – and it’s as we’ve been saying for almost five years. Fraud in crowdfunding is not just almost non-existent –  so much so as to be hard to measure,… Read More

May 19, 2017 @ 3:50 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre in Abu Dhabi, has joined R3 as a new member of its international consortium. ADGM is the first regulatory body in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to be part of the R3 consortium, comprising over… Read More

May 17, 2017 @ 10:04 am By JD Alois  |  

The SEC’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (ACSEC) addressed questions about secondary market liquidity in Reg A+ securities last week at their meeting in DC.  The Committee members reviewed challenges and demands for facilitating secondary transactions. Providing liquidity is an important aspect of… Read More

May 10, 2017 @ 11:48 am By JD Alois  |  

At the SEC’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (ACSEC), a presentation was delivered on the slowdown in US IPOs and what could possibly be done to increase the moribund IPO market. In the past ten years, the number of public… Read More

May 9, 2017 @ 6:59 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Welcome to Part 1 of a series discussing the various ways an issuer can easily screw up their offering. In this part, we’ll be talking about general solicitation as it applies to Regulation D (Reg D) offerings. For those that are unaware, Reg D is, for… Read More

May 8, 2017 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Choice Act is a valiant effort to address the profound shortcomings of the Dodd-Frank law. Dodd-Frank has been lambasted as regulatory overreach driven by politicians that really don’t quite understand what they are doing. At worst, Dodd-Frank has institutionalized too big to fail…. Read More

May 7, 2017 @ 12:11 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

On May 3, 2017, the SEC released its proposed amendments to the Investment Advisers Act (the Advisers Act) to reflect changes made under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the FAST Act). The FAST Act, which was passed in 2015, amended sections 203(l) and 203(m) of… Read More

May 3, 2017 @ 3:06 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Since the beginning of this year, the German government has undertaken a review of the crowdinvesting regulation introduced in July 2015. It has now officially released its conclusions and is proposing several changes to the existing law, including a most controversial exclusion of real estate… Read More

April 28, 2017 @ 11:52 am By JD Alois  |  

“That ability to adapt and evolve to meet the changing needs of customers and the marketplace is as critical” Thomas Curry, the Comptroller of the Currency, delivered a speech today at Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. The speech comes at an interesting time as… Read More

April 27, 2017 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Jamal El Mallouki, CrowdDesk CEO and current Chair of the German Crowdfunding Association (Bundesverband Crowdfunding), wants to boost the German crowdfunding market and affiliated regulatory framework. To improve the crowdfunding ecosystem, El Mallouki and the Association have published three concrete proposals for policymakers to pursue. In… Read More

April 21, 2017 @ 3:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

This is a special time of the year in Washington, DC. It is the annual Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank meaning a diverse group of policymakers and regulators descend upon the US Capitol clogging restaurants and over-booking hotels. This also means there… Read More

April 20, 2017 @ 5:22 am By Erin Hobey  |  

The proliferation of P2P marketplace, and most importantly online lending brings a competitive challenge for existing financial institutions that is here to stay. Its meteoric rise has provoked regulators around the world to deliberate on the new models of oversight needed to benefit consumers and… Read More