Our Broker-Dealer Group has in-depth experience advising clients on complex and sophisticated broker-dealer regulatory issues, transactions, examination management and enforcement matters.
Broker-dealers are both comprehensively regulated and critical providers in multi-institutional financial service offerings. Our broker-dealer group features dedicated experts in broker-dealer, security-based swap dealer, exchange and ATS regulation and works closely with our other financial services practices, including banking, derivatives, insurance and investment management to provide multi-disciplinary solutions. We also work closely with the firm’s broader practices, including structured finance, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, hedge funds, project finance, executive compensation and employee benefits, intellectual property and litigation/regulatory enforcement groups to provide seamless legal service to our broker-dealer clients.
Our attorneys advise clients on all aspects of statutory, SEC and SRO regulation, including registration requirements, capital, custody, margin and other financing rules, sales and trading practices, marketplace requirements, supervisory and reporting requirements, anti-money laundering and privacy programs, insider trading, cybersecurity matters and ESG requirements. We assist clients in the structuring, formation and registration of broker-dealers, ATS and other market intermediaries, develop compliance and supervisory programs, perform compliance reviews and conduct internal investigations. We provide structuring and regulatory advice across a full range of activities and products, including financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganizations, cash and synthetic prime-brokerage, cross-border arrangements, structured products and crypto-assets. We also represent clients in enforcement and litigation proceedings.
Our clients include many of the best known full-service, discount, regional and online broker-dealers, securities exchanges, alternative trading systems, market makers, mutual fund distributors and dual-registered firms. We represent these financial services companies as well as boards of directors, committees, executives and individuals. Our practice spans U.S. broker-dealer regulation and financial regulation in Europe and Asia. The lawyers in our group counsel clients subject to the Securities Exchange Commission, FINRA, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Japanese Securities Exchange Surveillance Commission on compliance matters, regulation, enforcement proceedings and investigations.
The lawyers in our practice include the former Chair, Enforcement Division Director, and senior Enforcement leadership from the Securities Exchange Commission and collectively brings decades of experience counselling broker-dealers in private practice. This combined experience provides our team with substantial understanding of the complex regulatory and business needs of our clients.