Editor column

Citation

Davis, H.A. (2011), "Editor column", Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/joic.2011.31312caa.001

Editor column

Article Type: Editor column From: Journal of Investment Compliance, Volume 12, Issue 3

The issue begins with an explanation by Roger Lorence and Steven Zhang of the structure, tax benefits, investment advantages, legal issues, and other practical issues related to private placement life insurance or annuities invested in hedge funds. Next Lorna Schhase discusses problems, issues and unusual approaches with respect to SEC Form ADV, the disclosure form used by investment advisers, including new issues with the revised Part 2 and continuing issues with Part 1. Benjamin Haskin, Barry Barbash and Brian Hall describe a recent SEC roundtable on money market funds and systemic risk in light of problems with money market funds during the financial crisis and the SEC’s subsequent amendment to rules governing market funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940; the roundtable was convened to discuss potential changes to money market fund regulation rather than to generate specific regulatory proposals. Larry Polk and Avital Stadler explain and interpret FINRA’s recently revised Discovery Guide of documents to be exchanged by parties in customer arbitration cases. Michael Clark, Laurence Lese, and Reid Avett interpret the SEC’s recently adopted final rules for an expanded whistleblower program established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, point to possible problems if whistleblowers have incentives to bypass companies’ existing compliance programs, and recommend that companies improve their compliance programs for potential hazards. Yoon-Young Lee, Bruce Newman, and Kohki Kubota explain the newly approved FINRA books and records rule; as a practical matter the effect of the new requirements may be to cause FINRA members to retain all books and records required by securities regulation for at least six years. Russell Sacks and Michael Blankenship explain FINRA’s concept proposal to establish research rules for fixed-income securities similar to the rules that currently apply only to equity securities; research distributed solely to institutional investors would be subject to a more general “health warning” and the authors note that some firms may choose to disseminate their research solely to institutional investors. Musonda Simwayi and Wang Guohua present the results of a survey or money laundering reporting officers in Zambian commercial banks and conclude that commercial banks need to invest more resources in training those officers to ensure that their anti-money laundering programs are effective. This issue concludes with summaries of recent FINRA regulatory notices on low-priced equity securities in customer margin and firm proprietary accounts; FINRA rules governing books and records, explained also in the article by Yoon-Yound Lee, Bruce Newman, and Kohki Kubota; a FINRA rule governing fidelity bonds; a FINRA customer order protection rule; and FINRA’s new consolidated financial responsibility and related operational rules.

Henry A. DavisEditor