One of the interesting aspects of the CII letter is that while it may be said to fit broadly within the environmental, social and corporate governance (or "ESG") umbrella, the CII's focus is much more on the "G" than it is on the "E." As a practical matter, many of the companies that score highly on "E" are technology companies that score poorly on "G." To some extent this reflects how broad, or amorphous, the ESG concept is.

Why is it necessary to have the SEC and CFTC conduct a joint study, with each naming the same number of members? Would it not make more sense to empower one agency (generally the SEC) and direct it to consult with other agencies, including the CFTC and, for example, FinCEN, if AML is a topic of concern?

Second, explicit directions as to the members of the joint study detract from the efficacy of the study. Do the legislators believe that because one financial firm - subject to the…

The report provides a good balanced discussion of the present state of the law with respect to disclosures as to climate change. In its identification of climate risks, the report makes the very important distinction between climate risks that are related to events in the physical world, on the one hand, and political or public relations risks that derive from popular perception as to physical world events. While each may be important, they are not inherently identical, and each of these…

One unusual aspect of this enforcement action was that it was largely precipitated by the firm's misevaluation (likely unintentional) of the securities pledged by the customer as collateral for a margin loan. It serves as a caution that firms must have good procedures for valuing securities that they do not trade as principal.