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Category Archives: Securities Law

Sqoop – free data journalism site makes it easier to find and track public records

Data Driven Journalism: “Just because there’s a duty to disclose, doesn’t mean there’s a duty to make it easy. This seems to be a universally true when it comes to public records, regardless of the country or government making them available. The consequences for journalists can be profound: hours of time spent digging through messy… Continue Reading

Securities and Commodities Exchange Litigation Up 37 Percent

“The latest available data from the federal courts show that during May 2017 the government reported 128 new securities and commodities exchange civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, monthly filings when compared with those of the same period in the previous year were… Continue Reading

SEC: Payments for Bullish Articles on Stocks Must Be Disclosed to Investors

News release: “The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes that left investors with the impression they were reading independent, unbiased analyses on investing websites while writers were being secretly compensated for touting company stocks. SEC investigations uncovered scenarios in which public companies… Continue Reading

Sentieo Trump Tracker: Follow The President’s Impact on Your Investment

Senteio Blog: “Today, we are excited to introduce the Trump Tracker. It’s a bot that constantly scans new public financial documents for mentions of President Trump. These documents include all SEC filings, conference call transcripts, investor presentations, press releases, and more. The bot instantly surfaces new mentions of Trump as soon as they’re published, while… Continue Reading

Report on Distributed Ledger Technology: Implications of Blockchain for Securities Industry

FINRA – “This paper provides an overview of distributed ledger technology, highlights some key applications being explored in the securities industry and potential impact of the technology, and discusses key implementation and regulatory considerations for broker-dealers.  FINRA welcomes an open dialogue with market participants to help proactively identify and address any potential risks or hurdles in… Continue Reading

Paper – Regulating Information

Bird, Andrew and Karolyi, Stephen A. and Ruchti, Thomas G., Regulating Information (October 18, 2016). Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2901650 “The SEC regulates and standardizes information production in financial markets through financial reporting standards. With a novel dataset exploiting institutional features of the standard setting process. On average, standards increase aggregate market value by… Continue Reading

Treepedia maps trees in cities throughout the world

Treepedia – Exploring the Green Canopy in cities around the world – Using the power of MIT digital research applications and Google Street view users may choose a city from the list included to date, and search by specific location(s) to identify the differences in green space within a city and in comparison to other… Continue Reading

Too Big to Disclose: Firm Size and Materiality Blindspots in Securities Regulation

Georgiev, George S., Too Big to Disclose: Firm Size and Materiality Blindspots in Securities Regulation (December 13, 2016). UCLA Law Review, Vol. 64, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2894538 “This Article argues that the securities disclosure regime contains previously unexamined structural deficiencies, which pertain to the information provided by the largest public companies. These deficiencies arise… Continue Reading

Disclosure 2.0: Can Technology Solve Overload, Complexity, and Other Information Failures?

Gerding, Erik F., Disclosure 2.0: Can Technology Solve Overload, Complexity, and Other Information Failures? (August 1, 2016). Tulane Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 5, 2016. Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2889598 “In recent years, securities law scholars have either renewed an old attack on mandatory issuer disclosure or questioned the effectiveness of securities disclosure in… Continue Reading

GAO Reports – Air Traffic Control, Financial Audits of Federal Reserve, CFPB, FHFA, SEC, Preventing llicit Drug Use

Air Traffic Control: Experts’ and Stakeholders’ Views on Key Issues to Consider in a Potential Restructuring, GAO-17-131: Published: Oct 13, 2016. Publicly Released: Nov 15, 2016. Corporate Shareholder Meetings: Proxy Advisory Firms’ Role in Voting and Corporate Governance Practices, GAO-17-47: Published: Nov 15, 2016. Publicly Released: Nov 15, 2016. Federal Reserve: Additional Actions Could Help… Continue Reading

GAO Reports – Patriot Modernization, SEC Conflict Minerals Rule

Patriot Modernization: Oversight Mechanism Needed to Track Progress and Provide Accountability, GAO-16-488: Published: Aug 25, 2016. Publicly Released: Aug 25, 2016. SEC Conflict Minerals Rule: Companies Face Continuing Challenges in Determining Whether Their Conflict Minerals Benefit Armed Groups, GAO-16-805: Published: Aug 25, 2016. Publicly Released: Aug 25, 2016. Continue Reading