FINRA issued a regulatory notice requesting comments on a proposal to require alternative trading systems ("ATSs") to submit fixed income quotation information relating to corporate and agency debt securities. The specific quotation information that an ATS would be required to report to FINRA on a weekly basis would include: the identity of the party submitting the quote and the party’s capacity ( i.e., agent or principal); the CUSIP or FINRA symbol of the quoted security; the date, time, and duration (if applicable) of the quote; the actual or minimum size associated with the quote; the price

The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to warn investors about fraudulent investment schemes involving purportedly high-yield, risk-free international finance programs. In the Investor Bulletin, the SEC warns that all "prime bank" investment programs are fraudulent. According to the SEC, the promoters of such programs attempt to make their schemes sound legitimate by using complex, sophisticated and official-sounding language. The Investor Bulletin lists "red flags" that could signal "prime bank" fraud, and recommends that investors avoid investing money

The SEC issued an Order to Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ("Oppenheimer") waiving Oppenheimer's automatic disqualification from certain provisions of Regulation D. The SEC determined that, as part of the "showing of good cause" under Rule 506(d)(2)(ii), Oppenheimer will comply with the conditions stated in its waiver request, including the following: (i) it will retain a law firm to review its policies and procedures relating to Rule 506 offerings, and (ii) it will adopt improvements or changes both as private placement agent in its investment banking business, and as issuer and compensated solicitor

At the American Retirement Initiative's Winter Summit, SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar and SEC Investor Advocate Rick Fleming delivered remarks in which they advocated for investors saving for retirement and discussed various ways to protect elderly investors from financial exploitation.

The SEC charged a stock research analyst, a corporate insider and two others with participating in an insider trading ring that generated illegal profits by allowing participants to trade in advance of four corporate news announcements. See: SEC Complaint; SEC Press Release. See also: Insider Trading Specialty Page (available to Cabinet subscribers only).