Steven Lofchie is a Partner based in New York. He advises financial institutions and corporate clients on the securities laws and the Commodity Exchange Act, with particular focus on the regulation of broker-dealers, swap dealers, investment funds and other market intermediaries. Steven's transactional practice focuses on securities credit and derivative transactions.

Recent Articles & Comments

In his of the amendments to Form PF, Chair Gensler said "the Commissions [meaning the SEC and the CFTC] and FSOC have identified some gaps in the information we receive," which thus necessitated the expansion of the information required by the Form.  

This comment is, for better or worse, an understatement. Form PF was essentially when it was first adopted, over ten years ago, because the questions were so badly conceived and written. That is the reason one so seldom hears about…

In this case, the SEC concludes that the interest feature constitutes the offer and sale of investment contracts under the Howey test. But the argument for a violation of law on these facts does not depend on a Howey analysis. The case that is far more on-point is , (borrowing from retail investors, even on a very short-term basis, with the promise of an interest return, may constitutes the issuance of a debt security). See also commentary in .

By citing to Howey only,…

The version of these rules that was originally proposed by the SEC (i) extended the definition of "dealer" in ways that could not plausibly be justified (as the SEC admitted in the adopting release) and (ii) contained provisions for the aggregation of legally separate entities with different owners that were acting independently, which could not possibly be aggregated for purposes of registering as a dealer.  

The final rules are a substantial improvement.  Had these final…

The  states its core mission to include "mobiliz[ing] mainstream finance to support the transition toward a sustainable economy."  

As to the: monetary policy, stability of the financial system, safety and soundness of banks, the payment system, and consumer protection.  The FRB is given a significant degree of insulation from the ordinary political process on the view that it limits its role to those identified missions, and does not involve itself in matters of…