The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted comments to the SEC in response to the notice of FINRA amendments to Rule 5123 ("Private Placement of Securities"). The amendments would require broker-dealers to provide additional information about an issuer to FINRA, along with a private placement memorandum or other disclosure document, in connection with certain private placements conflicts. The MFA previously submitted comments regarding Rule 5123 which expressed concerns about the scope of FINRA's amendments, the authority of FINRA in implementing the rule, and the expedited approval

FINRA released a podcast summarizing the latest FINRA notices, news and compliance resources for November 2013. See the links below for topics in the FINRA podcast that were previously covered in the Cabinet news. See: FINRA Podcast: November 2013 Monthly Recap. Related news: FINRA Proposed Rule Change to Extend Tier Size Pilot of FINRA Rule 6433 (November 6, 2013); FINRA Regulatory Notice 13-39: SEC Approved Amendments to FINRA Rule 2360 and Rule 4210 Regarding OTC Options Cleared by OCC (November 7, 2013); FINRA Releases Enhanced Version of BrokerCheck (November 12, 2013); FINRA Proposes

FINRA has filed with the SEC an amendment to the proposed rule change to FINRA Rule 5210("Publication of Transactions and Quotations"), which was originally filed in August. In the initial rule filing, FINRA proposed to add "Supplementary Material .02" to FINRA Rule 5210 to emphasize that wash sale transactions are generally non-bona fide transactions, and that members have an obligation to put policies and procedures in place to review their trading activity for, and to prevent, wash sale transactions. The SEC received five comment letters regarding the proposed rule, and FINRA filed

The SEC Division of Investment Management ("IM") issued a guidance regarding the application of the exemption from investment adviser registration available to an investment adviser that advises solely on one or more "venture capital funds," as defined in Advisers Act Rule 203(l)-1 ("Venture Capital Fund Defined"). The guidance provides five scenarios which the SEC states are illustrative of the inquiries which the Division of IM has received regarding the venture capital exemption ("VC Exemption"). The Division's responses to the scenarios include the following: The Division would not object

The SEC has charged a Miami-based trader with insider trading in the stock of a company that had given him confidential notice of a planned distribution of its shares, as well as short sales and related covering transactions that violated Regulation M in connection with public offerings by several other companies. See: SEC Complaint against Langston; SEC Press Release. Related news: SEC Settles with Numerous Firms for Covering Shorts out of a Public Offering in Violation of Regulation M (September 17, 2013). See also: For a discussion of the application of Rule 105 of Regulation M to hedge