Based on the injunctions entered against the former CFO of Bank of the Commonwealth and its publicly-traded holding company by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the SEC entered an order suspending the former CFO from appearing or practicing before the SEC as an accountant. The SEC's complaint alleged the former CFO violated the anti-fraud, reporting, record-keeping, internal controls, deceit of auditors, and Sarbanes-Oxley certification provisions of the federal securities laws by engaging or providing substantial assistance in the understatement of Commonwealth's

New SRO rules and rule proposals were announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notices of exchange rule changes and proposals for the week of March 9 - March 13. Clearance Settlement: DTC: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Make Technical Revisions to the DTC Settlement Service Guide (Release No. 34-74485; File No. SR-DTC-2015-02; March 12, 2015); see also Exhibit 5 ICC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change to Revise the ICC Treasury Operations Policies and Procedures (Release No. 34-74456; File No. SR-ICC-2015-002; March 6, 2015)

SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar spoke at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. He discussed the current status of equity market structure. Commissioner Piwowar expressed disappointment that the SEC accomplished "very little" regarding improvements to equity market structure. He noted, however, that he is pleased with the progress of the tick size pilot program for small capitalization companies, which would test the benefits and costs of an alternative minimum price increment for small-cap stocks. He also voiced approval of the SEC's finalization of the composition of the

SEC Director of the Division of Trading and Markets Stephen Luparello testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment. He discussed approaches that could lead to the establishment of venture exchanges. According to Mr. Luparello, the two most significant challenges facing small and emerging companies are attracting the attention of a wide range of investors and achieving a liquid secondary market. He also presented research evaluating how market structure can be improved to facilitate secondary market liquidity for smaller companies and their investors. The

The SEC charged eight officers, directors, or major shareholders for failing to update their stock ownership disclosures to reflect material changes, including steps to take the companies private. See: SEC Orders; SEC Press Release.