SEC Commissioner Elad Roisman recommended that the agency consider additional guidance for asset managers with respect to the use of proxy advisory firms. In a keynote address at the ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference, Mr. Roisman stated that he has been studying several asset management practices with respect to the proxy process, such as: the "default position" of many advisers, which is to vote every proxy in every fund's portfolio; voting uniformly across funds; how advisers handle conflicts of interest ( i.e., conflicts that could exist between funds with different

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") reported supervisory examination findings on (i) automobile loan servicing, (ii) deposits, (iii) mortgage servicing, and (iv) remittances completed between June 2018 and November 2018. In its periodic publication, Supervisory Highlights, the CFPB reported, among other things, that: servicer attempts to collect "miscalculated deficiency balances" were not fair; one or more institutions engaged in deceptive representations about bill-pay debited dates; servicers charged consumers higher late fees than the amount permitted by mortgage notes; and

The MSRB summarized its executive budget for the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2018. According to the MSRB, the annual budget funds all statutory responsibilities of the organization and affiliated expenses. The MSRB said that in fiscal year 2019: the budget projects an operating deficit of $1.7 million and also includes a $2.6 million reduction in certain fees assessed on regulated entities, leading to a total budget deficit of $4.3 million, which will be funded with reserves; revenues are budgeted at $36.1 million, which is a reduction of $3.7 million compared to the previous year

Pursuant to Executive Order 13850, the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") designated a Venezuela state gold mining company and its president for "prop[ping] up the illegitimate regime of former President Nicolas Maduro." As a result of OFAC's action, all property and interests in property of this entity and individual, and of any entities that are owned by this entity and individual, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all

A broker-dealer agreed to settle FINRA charges for (i) transmitting to the Order Audit Trail System ("OATS") 23,882,352 reports that contained "inaccurate, incomplete, or improperly formatted data," and (ii) failing to transmit 13,585,009 Reportable Order Events (ROEs) to OATS. In addition, the broker-dealer was charged with failing to have a sufficient supervisory system designed to ensure that it followed OATS reporting requirements. According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, Cowen and Company, LLC agreed, among other things, to a censure and to pay a fine of $175,000.