Overview of the SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Proposed Rule

"On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-1 to issue sweeping proposed climate-related disclosure rules for public companies. In issuing the proposed rules, the SEC cited its existing statutory authorities under the federal securities laws— specifically, the Securities Act of 1933 (P.L. 73-22) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (P.L. 73-291). The proposal represents a more prescriptive and detailed approach to climate-related disclosures relative to the existing broad, principles-based climate-related disclosure regime embodied in the SEC’s 2010 “Guidance Regarding Disclosure Related to Climate Change.” Among other things, it would require all public companies, as a growing number voluntarily do, to report on their direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and under certain circumstances their upstream and downstream GHG emissions.

Public companies would also be required to report on the impacts of climate-related natural events and transitional activities to mitigate such impacts on their consolidated financial statements. According to the SEC, both the current and proposed disclosure regimes are grounded in the federal securities laws’ concept of materiality—the notion that required disclosures should encompass the types of information that investors consider important when they make investment or corporate voting decisions..."
Climate risk disclosure 

High Frequency Trading: Overview of Recent Developments

"High-frequency trading (HFT) generally refers to trading in financial instruments, such as securities and derivatives, transacted through supercomputers executing trades within microseconds or milliseconds (or, in the technical jargon, with extremely low latency). There is no universal or legal definition of HFT, however. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees securities markets, nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates most derivatives trading, have specifically defined the term. By most accounts, high frequency trading has grown substantially over the past 10 years: estimates hold that it accounts for roughly 55% of trading volume in U.S. equity markets and about 40% in European equity markets. Likewise, HFT has grown in futures markets—to roughly 80% of foreign exchange futures volume and two-thirds of both interest rate futures and Treasury 10-year futures volumes..."
Stock markets

Investor.gov

Looking for investor information, take a look at the Investor.gov site from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Administration. Find information on basic investing, markets, research, employment, retirement,  and life trends. 
Investor.gov

StopFraud.gov

Find tips to help your protect yourself from financial fraud.

Investor.gov

Learn how to invest your hard earned money at this new web site from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SEC Proposes Rules To Help Prevent And Detect Identity Theft

"The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a rule proposal to help protect investors from identity theft by ensuring that broker-dealers, mutual funds, and other SEC-regulated entities create programs to detect and respond appropriately to red flags.

The SEC issued the proposal jointly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Section 1088 of the Dodd-Frank Act transferred authority over certain parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the SEC and CFTC for entities they regulate.."

Investor.gov
Find investment information from the newly launched Investor.gov site from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SEC Issues Report Cautioning Credit Rating Agencies
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a report cautioning credit rating agencies about deceptive ratings conduct and the importance of sufficient internal controls over the policies, procedures, and methodologies the firms use to determine credit ratings.

The SEC's Report of Investigation stems from an Enforcement Division inquiry into whether Moody's Investors Service, Inc. (MIS) — the credit rating business segment of Moody's Corporation — violated the registration provisions or the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws..."

Investigation of Failure of the SEC To Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme
"The OIG investigation did not find evidence that any SEC personnel who worked on an SEC examination or investigation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC (BMIS) had any financial or other inappropriate connection with Bernard Madoff or the Madoff family that influenced the conduct of their examination or investigatory work. The OIG also did not find that former SEC Assistant Director Eric Swanson's romantic relationship with Bernard Madoffs niece, Shana Madoff, influenced the conduct of the SEC examinations of Madoff and his firm. We also did not find that senior officials at the SEC directly attempted to influence examinations or investigations of Madoff or the Madofffirm, nor was there evidence any senior SEC official interfered with the staffs ability to perform its work.

The OIG investigation did find, however, that the SEC received more than ample information in the form of detailed and substantive complaints over the years to warrant a thorough and comprehensive examination and/or investigation of Bernard Madoff and BMIS for operating a Ponzi scheme, and that despite three examinations and two investigations being conducted, a thorough and competent investigation or examination was never performed. The OIG found that between June 1992 and December 2008 when Madoff confessed, the SEC received six! substantive complaints that raised significant red flags concerning Madoffs hedge fund operations and should have led to questions about whether Madoffwas actually engaged in trading. Finally, the SEC was also aware oftwo articles regarding Madoffsinvestment operations that appeared in reputable publications in 2001 and questioned Madoffs unusually consistent returns..."

SEC Takes Steps to Strengthen Existing Rules Governing Securities Trading by Personnel
"Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro today outlined a series of measures the agency is taking to strengthen its internal compliance program to guard against inappropriate employee securities trading...

The measures the agency is taking include:

* First, the staff has drafted a set of new internal rules governing securities transactions for all SEC employees that will require preclearance of all trades. It also will, for the first time, prohibit staff trading in the securities of companies under SEC investigation regardless of whether the employee has personal knowledge of the investigation. The rules have been submitted to the federal government’s Office of Government Ethics, which approves agency ethics rules.

* Second, the SEC is contracting with an outside firm to develop a computer compliance system to track, audit and oversee employee securities transactions and financial disclosure in real time.

* Third, Chairman Schapiro has signed an order consolidating responsibility for oversight of employee securities transactions and financial disclosure reporting within the Ethics Office. And, she has authorized the hiring of a new chief compliance officer."

SEC Approves Measures to Strengthen Oversight of Credit Rating Agencies
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved a series of measures to increase transparency and accountability at credit rating agencies, and ensure that firms provide more meaningful ratings and greater disclosure to investors.

The new measures impose additional requirements on credit rating agencies, whose ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities backed by subprime mortgage loans and of collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime loans contributed to the recent turmoil in the credit markets. The SEC also proposed additional measures related to transparency and competition concerning credit rating agencies. The SEC’s actions were informed by the agency’s extensive 10-month examination of three major credit rating agencies that found significant weaknesses in ratings practices."

Executive Compensation Disclosure
A new resource from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission providing compensation for executive officers from the public filings of 500 large public companies. The databse is searchable by ticker symbol/name of company, public market capitalization, revenue, and industry.

SEC Announces Successor to EDGAR Database
"Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox today unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox demonstrates the future benefits of interactive data financial reporting to investors SEC Chairman Christopher Cox demonstrates the future benefits of interactive data financial reporting to investors

The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. Based on a completely new architecture being built from the ground up, it will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system. The decision to replace EDGAR marks the SEC’s transition from collecting forms and documents to making the information itself freely available to investors to give them better and more up-to-date financial disclosure in a form they can readily use.

SEC Examinations Find Shortcomings in Credit Rating Agencies' Practices and Disclosure to Investors
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today released findings from extensive 10-month examinations of three major credit rating agencies that uncovered significant weaknesses in ratings practices and the need for remedial action by the firms to provide meaningful ratings and the necessary levels of disclosure to investors..."

SEC Proposes Comprehensive Reforms to Bring Increased Transparency to Credit Rating Process
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to formally propose a comprehensive series of credit rating agency reforms to bring increased transparency to the ratings process and curb practices that contributed to recent turmoil in the credit markets."

SEC Takes Action to Halt Online Account Intrusion and Identity Theft Scheme
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today took action to stop a sophisticated Internet scheme that stole the identities of unsuspecting individuals and netted more than $66,000 in illicit profits in just seven weeks.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC alleged that one or more unknown traders conducted their entire online account intrusion scheme over the Internet and concealed their identities by, among other things, fraudulently opening brokerage accounts in the names of individuals who responded to a job advertisement on the Web site Craig’s List."