On the one hand, it is good that the SEC is conducting experiments to determine how the market system functions and whether liquidity for small issuers can be improved. On the other, it is unclear why SEC is focusing on this particular experiment. This kind of program seems unlikely to produce meaningful results. Even if the results should prove meaningful, more useful experiments could have been conducted. For some reason, this broad tick test caught Congress members' fancy (in the JOBS Act…

This case puts companies on notice that they need to deal very carefully with the handling of an employee who raises issues internally, even when the issues raised have no basis in fact, and likely even when the employee raises the complaint in an inappropriate manner.  

Neither the Order nor the press release provides sufficient information to gauge the seriousness, or the likely basis, of the particular issues raised by the employee. Given that (1) the company…

Is the compliance burden of tracking minimum increments really worth the rule's benefits (to the extent any such benefits exist)?

Regulators exaggerate the benefits of central clearing despite the following pressing consideration: since short-term interest rate swaps in major currencies are fairly liquid, it is unlikely that central clearing greatly reduces systemic risk. The financial crisis was not caused by interest rate swaps in major currencies. If the mandatory clearing of these swaps offers any benefit whatsoever, it might be the facilitation of trading in the ordinary course, since clearing allows a customer to…