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William Byrnes (Texas A&M) tax & compliance articles

Posts Tagged ‘Dodd-Frank’

Dodd Frank Progress Report – 4th Year Anniversary

Posted by William Byrnes on July 18, 2014


On July Wall_Street_Sign18, 2014, Davis Polk LLC released its special Dodd-Frank Progress Report to mark the four-year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The Progress Report concluded that a total of 280 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed.  Of these 280 passed deadlines, 127 (45.4%) have been missed and 153 (54.6%) have been met with finalized rules.

In addition, 208 (52.3%) of the 398 total required rulemakings have been finalized, while 96 (24.1%) rulemaking requirements have not yet been proposed.

 

Contents of Davis Polk’s Dodd Frank Progress Report

o   Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress by Agency

o   Title VII Progress on Required Rulemakings

o   Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress on Passed Deadlines

o   Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress in Select Categories

o   Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Progress by Due Date

o   Dodd-Frank Statutory Deadlines for Required Rulemakings

o   Dodd-Frank Study Progress by Due Date

o   Dodd-Frank Statutory Deadlines for Required Studies

o   Tasks for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants

 

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Better Late than Never: SEC Implements the Switch

Posted by William Byrnes on January 10, 2012


As anticipated, the SEC will delay implementation of the RIA transition. On June 22, the SEC approved rules that will transition thousands of advisors from SEC to state regulation, but the new rules won’t be effective until June 28, 2012, almost a year later than initially expected.

Under the regulatory structure in place before the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, investment advisors with $25 million or more in assets under management (AUM) were regulated by the SEC, and those with less than $25 million in AUM were regulated by the states. Dodd-Frank changed the registration threshold so that advisors with between $25 and $100 million in AUM—so-called “midsize advisors”—will be required to withdraw their registration from the SEC and register with state regulators.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the planned switch and in Advisor’s Journal, see Disarray at the SEC is Complicating the “Switch” (CC 11-83), Hedge Funds Must Now Register with the SEC under the New Wall Street Reform Act (CC 10-45) & Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (CC 10-35).

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Ready for Launch?

Posted by William Byrnes on November 28, 2011


Despite the best efforts of Congressional Republicans, the ribbon-cutting for the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is on schedule for next month. And unlike other Dodd-Frank progeny, this project looks like it’s going to hit the ground running.

The stated mission of the CFPB is to “make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans—whether they are applying for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products.” After the mortgage debacle of the recent financial crisis and stories about predatory practices in the credit card and pay-day loan industries, who can argue with that mission statement?

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the fight over Dodd-Frank in Advisor’s Journal, see Is Barney Frank’s Resolve to Implement Dodd-Frank Weakening? (CC 11-95) & Republicans Look to Erode Dodd-Frank (CC 11-75).

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Dodd-Frank: Dying on the Vine?

Posted by William Byrnes on October 31, 2011


The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) was endorsed by President Obama as an asset providing the “strongest consumer financial protections in history.” However, almost a  year after the Act was introduced, implementation of its broad reforms is slowing

The complexity of the Act is the root of it’s first problem: The bill came in at an overwhelming 2,319 pages, or 300,000 words, about half the length of the entire Christian Bible. By comparison, other paradigm-shifting financial acts were short-stories; the Federal Reserve Act was 31 pages, Glass-Steagall was 37 pages, and Sarbanes-Oxley was 66 pages long. Even the gargantuan Health Reform Act was shorter than Dodd-Frank. Consequently, even the Federal government can’t  fully ascertain the Act.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the debt limit fight in Advisor’s Journal, see Storm Clouds over U.S. Debt (CC 11-85).

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Dodd-Frank Whistleblowing—Rewarding the Robbers?

Posted by William Byrnes on September 13, 2011


Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower provisions may be more effective than originally anticipated, but will they lead to increased corporate compliance?

The whistle blower rules have received cristicism from some who believe the procedures will hinder compliance procedures rather than improve them. The liberal Whistleblower provisions have also raised concerns about the already overcommitted SEC being overwhelmed by frivolous claims by employees who view the program as a lottery with multi-million dollar payouts.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of Dodd-Frank updates in Advisor’s Journal, see Is Barney Frank’s Resolve to Implement Dodd-Frank Weakening? (CC 11-95).

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Advisors Hit with Another Round of SEC Reporting Rules

Posted by William Byrnes on March 21, 2011


Do small- to medium-sized advisors represent a threat to the systemic integrity of the worldwide financial system? Probably not, but you’d think so based on the flood of advisor regulations flowing out of Washington.

The Dodd-Frank compliance maze expanded again last week as the SEC commissioners voted unanimously to release proposed reporting requirements that will complicate the compliance landscape for many advisors. Although affected advisors are not among the largest advisors overseen by the SEC, they are nevertheless categorized by the Commission as large enough to represent a systemic threat warranting increased SEC attention.

And while the SEC has assured affected advisors that their proprietary trading strategies won’t become part of the public record, recent events like the Wikileaks private banking releases should spook advisors.  Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of recent SEC rulemaking activity in Advisor’s Journal, see SEC’s Plain English Requirement Equals Expensive Client Disclosures(CC 10-44) and SEC Approves FINRA Suitability and Know-Your-Customer Rules (CC 11-17).

 

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SEC Waffles in Study on Improving RIA Oversight

Posted by William Byrnes on March 11, 2011


The SEC has finally released its Dodd-Frank mandated study on enhancing registered investment adviser (RIA) examinations, but the study is more a tale of SEC budgetary distress than a concrete plan to improve examinations. Although the study hints at the regulatory framework that is likely to emerge for RIAs in the coming months, it doesn’t conclude with a definitive solution to the problem. Although the study does not conclude with a specific plan for improving adviser examinations, the scope of the RIA examination problem and the funding problems revealed make it clear that change is coming for RIAs—change likely to be paid for by increased user fees.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

 

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