It is hard to imagine a disclosure of less value to a swap counterparty than the mid-market mark of a widely published rate where the counterparty agrees that it prefers the speed and certainty of immediate execution to a delay for receiving price information that the counterparty does not need.  

That said, the debate over what decisions should be made by the Commissioners, not by staff, continues. On the one hand, there is a logic that it is the Commissioners who have been…

As the long list of related news items demonstrates, the treatment of separate accounts of individual customers has been the subject of considerable and extended discussion. Happily, the outcome appears on a course to be consistent with the reasonable expectations of both FCMs and customers, and with operational necessities.  

Improper sales of higher cost shares in mutual funds runs second only to recordkeeping as measured by the number of enforcement actions that the SEC brings. This is an area where firms are best advised to review their procedures.

Two interesting points about the enforcement action. First, while there was a disclosure violation, the failure was to disclose to the ETF Board, rather than to the public.  

Second, the SEC says that it went light on the adviser because of its remedial efforts. However, the settlement agreement does not describe the remedial efforts and it is not obvious how the adviser would correct a past failure to disclose. While it is good that the SEC rewards remedial efforts, the reward…