On Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the one-year waiver of the applicability of the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (“SLR”) to banks, which was granted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Fed”) on April 1, 2020, expires and, despite vigorous pleas from America’s biggest commercial banks, the Fed announced on Friday, March 19, 2021, that the waiver would not be extended.» Read More

Alternative Trading Systems

On Monday, September 28, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed to extend the scope of Regulation ATS to trading in government securities. Regulation ATS (“Alternative Trading Systems”) was originally adopted by the SEC in 1998 in response to the then growth of trading of equity securities not registered on a securities exchange.» Read More

As discussed in my earlier blog, “SEC Focus on Municipal Securities: Disclosure and Enforcement – The Peculiar Structure of the Municipal Securities Disclosure Regime,” since 1994 issuers and, in the case of conduit issuers, obligated parties are required to enter into a Continuing Disclosure Agreement (“CDA”) at the time of issuing municipal securities.» Read More

In Butler v. Wolf, Judge Stickman of the Western District of Pennsylvania issued an important ruling on Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s coronavirus lockdown orders which impacts the Governor’s ability to re-impose some of the more draconian restrictions that he, and governors in New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere, put in place between March and June.» Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the shutdowns of much of the economic activity in the United States by mid-March 2020. Although there were and remain some variances among the several states, in general, businesses were shut, buildings were almost empty, and factories and warehouses (except for Amazon, according to media reports) were still.» Read More

In 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) established the National Market System (“NMS”), governed by SEC Regulation NMS, “…to modernize and strengthen …[the trading system] for equity securities.” Its aim was to encourage competition both among the several trading markets and among individual orders, SEC Release No.» Read More

On March 29, 2020, as part of a massive response to the economic distress inflicted upon businesses and working people in the United States due to the “shutdown” of the economy as part of the efforts to contain the impact of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”), Congress passed and the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”).» Read More

Although brief in length, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (the “Act”) that was signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020, clarifies how borrowers can use Payment Protection Program (“PPP”) loans made pursuant to the CARES Act and grants borrowers much-needed flexibility in the requirements for PPP forgiveness.» Read More

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on May 28, 2020, to relax the terms and conditions for forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, just before the eight-week covered periods for early borrowers are coming to an end. The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, H.R.» Read More

This new normal, what will it look like in a few days, weeks, or months? Yes, some may physically be back at the office or having in-person meetings again, while others may be forever changing how they do business. The common factor between those returning physically to a pre-COVID existence, and those setting a new path for themselves will be a realization that our reliance on any outsourced service provider before the outbreak was nothing compared to what it will be moving forward.» Read More