Road shows, analysts and jumping the gun: the Facebook IPO
By Helen Parry, additional reporting by Julie Dimauro
LONDON/NEW YORK, May 25 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Facebook’s chaotic initial public offering has sparked much speculation and legal action based on the idea that securities laws and regulations over disclosure may have been breached, which would leave Facebook and others involved in the offering process liable to potential regulatory enforcement or civil liability for losses caused to investors.
An analyst at lead underwriter Morgan Stanley cut his revenue forecasts for Facebook in the days before the offering, information that may not have reached many investors before the stock was listed, Reuters has reported. (more…)
IA brief: State regulator’s deficiency letter offers clues for social-media policies
NEW YORK, May 25 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – A state regulator’s letter to an investment advisory firm outlining shortcomings in the firm’s use of social media also gives an early clue to how regulators will scrutinize the financial industry’s growing use of services like Facebook and LinkedIn.
The “exam deficiency” letter was provided by a source familiar with the case to Thomson Reuters on the grounds that neither the source nor the target of the letter be identified. Such letters, which specify areas in which a firm’s regulatory compliance falls short, are issued by a regulator after an examination of a firm. (more…)
Client funds, net capital among hot topics for SEC 2012 exam program
By Nick Paraskeva, Thomson Reuters Accelus contributing author
NEW YORK, May 18 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – The SEC has new priorities in its 2012 exam program, including verifying firms’ holding of client funds and their net capital calculations.
The changes follow the collapse of MF Global, which revealed that client funds were missing despite regulations requiring that they be segregated. The revisions also reflect top findings found during the 2011 exam program, and follow major reforms to the SEC’s exam office. (more…)
Foreign bribery fines and settlements: who should get the money?
By Luke Balleny
NEW YORK, May 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – ‘Share and share alike,’ some parents love to tell their offspring. But when it comes to fines or settlements from foreign bribery cases, the issue of sharing is a contentious one.
The U.S. government receives all proceeds from fines or settlements that companies pay it in connection with violations, or alleged violations, of U.S. anti-bribery laws. (more…)
Negligence charges gain clout in SEC enforcement arsenal
By Julie DiMauro
BOSTON/NEW YORK, May 9 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - Financial services firms may face more negligence cases brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, reflecting a greater willingness by the commission to base charges on negligence findings, industry professionals were told at a Thomson Reuters forum.
“What we are seeing is a willingness to actively go out and charge negligence,” Ian Roffman, a partner at Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP, told compliance officers and others in a panel discussion on SEC enforcement hosted by the Thomson Reuters Governance, Compliance and Risk division. (more…)
U.S. compliance officers need clarity on status as ‘supervisors,’ industry professionals say
By Stuart Gittleman
NEW YORK, May 8 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s dismissal of failure-to-supervise proceedings against a broker-dealer’s general counsel did little to ease compliance officers’ concerns over their potential for acting in a supervisory capacity, according to leading industry professionals.
In January the SEC in a one-one split dismissed charges against the lawyer, Theodore Urban, for failing to prevent, detect and stop a stock fraud conducted by a registered representative at the broker, Ferris Baker Watts, and a customer of the firm. (more…)
The U.S. JOBS Act and non-U.S. companies: changes to the offering process and compliance challenges
By Robert Evans, Thomson Reuters Accelus contributing author
NEW YORK, May 8 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – In April 2012, the U.S. securities laws changed significantly with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the JOBS Act. The JOBS Act is deregulatory, easing some of the rules for companies seeking to access the U.S. capital markets. The offering process for SEC-registered IPOs is changing as a result and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff is working on further rule changes. Publicity restrictions will be eased for private placements and Rule 144A offerings. Offerings of up to $50 million will be exempted from registration. These changes pose interesting compliance challenges.
NON-U.S. COMPANIES ACCESSING U.S. CAPITAL MARKETS
Non-U.S. companies accessing the public U.S. equity capital markets for the first time after December 8, 2011 may benefit from the JOBS Act changes. To qualify, a company must have annual revenues of less than $1 billion. Issuers in this new category are called emerging growth companies (EGCs). The most significant changes to the securities offering process for EGCs include:
- Communications: A company making a public offering in the United States and its underwriters are strictly limited by the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 in their ability to communicate about the offering. No offers, written or oral, are permitted before a registration statement is filed with the SEC. Only oral offers, or offers made with a compliant prospectus, are permitted after filing but before the registration statement is declared effective. Under the JOBS Act, EGCs, directly or through representatives they authorize, may now test the waters with qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and institutional accredited investors (IAIs). That is, without violating the pre-filing and waiting period restrictions, they may communicate with those potential investors to gauge whether they might be interested in an SEC-registered securities offering.
- EGCs and underwriters that test the waters remain subject to potential securities law liability for those communications, including for any material misstatement or omission. As a result, issuers and investment banks are likely to be cautious in testing the waters. Communications will be oral (which can include use of slides or flip books that are not left with investors). If written materials are used, they will likely be limited to information from the registration statement. Because the JOBS Act creates a limited carve-out to the Securities Act restrictions on communication, there will be compliance challenges. For example, market participants will need to ensure that testing the waters communications are limited to QIBs and IAIs and only used in offerings by EGCs. Also, investors may have to agree to treat information confidentially to avoid market abuse and selective disclosure concerns.
- Confidential submission of registration statements: In December 2011, the SEC staff severely limited access to confidential submission of registration statements, which had been available to all first time non-U.S. issuers that qualified as foreign private issuers. The JOBS Act gives that access back to issuers that qualify as EGCs prior to pricing of their first SEC-registered sale of equity securities. EGCs are required to include the initial confidential submission and all confidentially submitted amendments as exhibits to a publicly filed registration statement no later than 21 days before the road show. The December 2011 SEC staff policy still allows some non-U.S. issuers to confidentially submit draft registration statements if they meet the conditions outlined in the policy and either are not EGCs or do not take advantage of any benefit available to EGCs. Draft registration statements submitted confidentially must be substantially complete at the time of initial submission, including exhibits and a signed audit report covering the fiscal years presented in the registration statement.
- Financial statements and selected financial data: An EGC need only provide two years of audited financial statements in its initial public offering of common equity securities registered with the SEC, rather than the three years that are generally required. Instead of five years of selected financial data, an EGC need only present selected financial data for periods beginning with the earliest audited period presented in its IPO registration statement. Although the JOBS Act only refers to the disclosure rules for U.S. domestic issuers, EGC foreign private issuers may follow these reduced disclosure requirements.
- Research reports: The JOBS Act makes it easier for investment banks to write research reports about EGCs. Pre- JOBS Act and under the current rules for non-EGCs, underwriters in an IPO cannot publish research in advance of the IPO or during a 40-day quiet period after pricing and may not publish research for 15 days before and after the release or expiration of any lock-up agreement. There are also restrictions limiting contact between bankers and research analysts designed to separate investment banking from research in investment banks.
The JOBS Act:
- exempts broker-dealer research reports on EGCs before, during or after common equity offerings of an EGC (including an IPO) from being considered an offer or a prospectus under the Securities Act;
- permits broker-dealers to write research on EGCs after their IPOs (so no 40-day quiet period) and before the expiration of IPO lock-up agreements; and
- allows research analysts to communicate with management in connection with the IPO of an EGC even if investment bankers are present.
Time to merge risk management and compliance?
By Rachel Wolcott
LONDON/NEW YORK, April 5 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Regulators’ rising interest in risk management combined with a long trail of big fines for compliance failures has some consultants and industry leaders wondering whether it is time for the two disciplines to come closer together if not merge completely.
More than ever there are areas of overlap between risk and compliance. Risk management is now hardwired into more rules and regulations since the beginning of the financial crisis. In the UK, for example, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) hasincreased its fines for risk management failures . The U.S.’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also indicated that it intends to take risk management as well as other governance and compliance issues even more seriously than in the past. (more…)
SEC examiners enter U.S. boardrooms to gauge compliance
By Nick Paraskeva
NEW YORK, April 4 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to reach into the boardroom to assess a financial firm’s culture of compliance, a senior commission official told a conference in New York.
The agency, departing from traditional practice to take a page from bank regulators, intends to have direct discussions with the firm’s board about the regulatory issues board members and senior management team are paying attention to, and how they are navigating them. (more…)
Companies should use metrics to defend themselves from Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims, report says
NEW YORK, March 5 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - Companies in the United States should focus on implementing performance metrics to defend themselves from whistleblower claims and to prevent misconduct within the company, according to a report from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Using metrics such as the turnover of compliance staff and the percentage of anonymous reports can help a company monitor the performance of its compliance program. It can also help to reduce the chances of an employee reporting misconduct directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission, PwC said in the report, which is an analysis of whistleblower rules included in the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul and adopted last May by the SEC. (more…)
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