Displaying items by tag: crackdown

(Washington)

Brokers, advisors, anyone covered by Reg BI, look out for a crackdown by the SEC. Former chief of FINRA, Susan Schroeder, says that enforcement is likely to start soon (i.e. this year) and may be “very aggressive”. According to Schroeder, “Early enforcement actions will be predicated on things like policies and procedures, but by past SEC standards, that is very aggressive”, and if the enforcement actions “are predicated on things like inadequate training or failures to have policies and procedures, from a legal theory perspective, that’s aggressive”.

FINSUM: So any way you cut it, SEC enforcement of the DOL rule this year looks like it is going to be intense. Brokers beware.

(Washington)

Over the last few months there were growing fears that the US tech industry, a stock market stalwart, might be poised for a damaging crackdown by regulators. This fear had somewhat subsided in the last few weeks as no new worries had arisen, until now. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has just now called for an anti-trust review of the US tech industry following a 60 Minutes story on Google’s monopoly power. Mnuchin said the power to do so was not part of his mandate, but that someone in the government needs to be looking at the issue. “These are issues that the Justice Department needs to look at seriously — not for any one company — but obviously as these technology companies have a greater and greater impact on the economy”.

FINSUM: This is a very worryingly development for the tech industry and its investors, but not one we think is unwarranted. We suspect this is going to wound tech stocks, especially if the idea of an anti-trust review gets traction in Washington.