Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery –Charles Caleb Colton On July 6, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a release adopting an expedited review procedure for exemptive and other applications under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (1940 Act) that are substantially identical to recent precedent, as well as a new informal internal procedure … Read More
SEC Adopts Securities Offering Reform for Closed-End Investment Companies
Introduction and Overview On April 8, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted Rules to modify the registration, communications and offering processes for business development companies (BDCs) and other closed-end investment companies (CEFs) under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act).1 One set of Rules responds to a Congressional directive and enables BDCs and CEFs to use … Read More
SEC Extends In-Person Board Meeting Relief
On March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted wide-ranging temporary exemptive relief to fund boards, funds and investment advisers as the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to all sectors of the U.S. economy. Since then, each state and the District of Columbia has begun to relax restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19. On June 19, … Read More
SEC Staff Withdraws Prior No-Action Letter
SEC Staff Withdraws Prior No-Action Letter on Control Share Acquisition Statutes, Requests Feedback on Control Share Statutes and Closed-End Funds “Never . . . mind” – Emily Litella On May 27, 2020, the staff of the Division of Investment Management (IM) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement (IM Statement) withdrawing a previous letter that interpreted Section … Read More
Pressure Mounts on SEC to Set Standards
Pressure Mounts on SEC to Set Standards for “Environmental, Social, Governance” Corporate Disclosure and Fund Investment Styles What Can We Expect? Before I joined Practus LLP, I served for 18 years as in-house counsel to leading global firms in the chemical industry. Over the years I was struck by the great number of products and technologies that were pitched as … Read More
Read Ethan Corey’s article in the May edition of The Investment Lawyer
The Investment Lawyer: Covering Legal and Regulatory Issues of Asset Management Prospectus Delivery Obligations, Regulation Best Interest and the Buried Facts Doctrine: Has the SEC Changed the Time When Prospectuses Must Be Delivered? The SEC’s Regulation Best Interest will require a broker-dealer to provide a retail customer with information about the material fees and cost the customer will incur and … Read More
The New Normal
Our “New Normal” has become a rapidly moving target during the COVID-19 pandemic Since I started writing this blog series in late March, the subject of how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the U.S. life insurance industry has become somewhat of rapidly moving target. As I sit here today, it has become very clear that this crisis will not be … Read More
Risk Management and Marketing during COVID-19
Finding the Perfect Intersection of Risk Management and Marketing in a Covid-19 World COVID-19 has legitimately had a major impact on life insurance underwriting and risk management processes. It has already become a major cause of life insurance deaths; in some hotspots eclipsing cancer and heart disease as a cause of death. Creating a three-headed problem for life insurers Avoiding … Read More
SEC Proposes to Modernize Framework for Fund Valuation Practices
“The devil is in the details” – quote generally attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe On April 21, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a release proposing substantial changes to investment company valuation practices (Proposing Release).1 The SEC would adopt new Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act) , which would establish requirements … Read More
Life Insurance Post COVID-19
Legislative possibilities for the life insurance industry in a post COVID-19 world In prior blog posts, I pointed out that the COVID 19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the life insurance industry in two ways: Increased consumer interest in the product leading to increased demand; and Industry concern over heightened mortality risk due to the disease’s actual and potential death toll. … Read More