The SEC recently posted on its website the Final Report from the 2012 SEC Government-Business Forum on Small Capital Formation, which was held in the fall of 2012. The report may be accessed at http://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/sbforum.shtml. The report includes 35 recommendations from the Forum, with quite a number of these focused on crowdfunding. Setting aside those… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Crowdfunding
Subscribe to Crowdfunding RSS FeedClass Action Relief in Crowdfunded Offerings?
Posted in CrowdfundingIn a recent speech, NASAA President Heath Abshure, while expressing support for increased access to capital formation, noted NASAA’s concerns about civil remedies for investors, including investors that participate in crowdfunding. Abshure noted that “for crowdfunding to be successful, class action relief must be available to investors who are defrauded in an offering of crowdfunded… Continue Reading
JOBS Act at Year 1
Posted in Crowdfunding, Decimalization, Emerging Growth Company Status, Exchange Act Registration Thresholds, IPO On-Ramp, Private Placements, Regulation A+, Research, Rule 506 RulemakingAny milestone, such as an anniversary, provides an opportunity for reflection and evaluation. At the one-year anniversary of the JOBS Act, preliminary experience gives reason for some optimism. The centerpiece of the JOBS Act, the “IPO on-ramp” provisions contained in Title I, have proven quite useful. The SEC Staff’s guidance in the form of Frequently… Continue Reading
FundersClub Obtains Broker-Dealer Registration No-Action Relief
Posted in Broker-Dealer Registration, Crowdfunding, Private Placements, Rule 506 Rulemaking, SEC NewsOn March 26, 2013, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets provided no-action relief to FundersClub Inc. and FundersClub Management LLC, indicating that the Division would not recommend enforcement action under Section 15(a)(1) of the Exchange Act if FundersClub and FundersClub Management LLC operated a platform through which its members could participate in Rule 506… Continue Reading
FINRA Launches Funding Portal Form
Posted in CrowdfundingAs we noted, last month FINRA’s Board of Governors authorized FINRA to issue an interim form to seek essential information from prospective funding portals intending to apply for membership with FINRA pursuant to the JOBS Act. FINRA has now announced the availability of the Interim Form for Funding Portals (“IFFP”), which is an online form… Continue Reading
FINRA Authorized to Use Interim Form for Funding Portals
Posted in CrowdfundingIn a recent update regarding the last meeting of the FINRA Board of Governors (see http://www.finra.org/Industry/Regulation/Guidance/CommunicationstoFirms/P197425), FINRA noted that the Board had authorized FINRA to issue an interim form to seek essential information from prospective funding portals intending to apply for membership with FINRA pursuant to the JOBS Act. Funding portals would file the interim… Continue Reading
Recent SEC Staff Comments on JOBS Act Implementation
Posted in Crowdfunding, Emerging Growth Company Status, Exchange Act Registration Thresholds, IPO On-Ramp, Private Placements, Regulation A+The Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance has been discussing the JOBS Act at recent conferences, including the Practising Law Institute’s 44th Annual Securities Regulation Institute in New York and the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section Fall Meeting in Washington, DC. David Lynn was the moderator of a JOBS Act panel at… Continue Reading
Investor Advisory Committee of the SEC
Posted in Crowdfunding, Rule 506 RulemakingOn Friday, September 28, 2012, the Dodd-Frank Investor Advisory Committee of the SEC met (see this agenda) and received an SEC Staff briefing on the JOBS Act. In connection with the Staff briefing, the Committee received an update from Jonathan Ingram, Deputy Chief Counsel and Lona Nallengara, Deputy Director (Legal and Regulatory) in the Division… Continue Reading
Yet Another Post-enactment JOBS Act Hearing
Posted in Crowdfunding, Private Placements, Regulation A+, Rule 506 RulemakingAmong the many distinctive aspects of the JOBS Act is that we could end up seeing more Congressional hearings on the JOBS Act after it was enacted than before it was enacted. The focus has now shifted from merits of the JOBS Act’s provisions to the pace at which those provisions are going into effect,… Continue Reading
Threat Level Orange
Posted in Crowdfunding, Rule 506 RulemakingThe state securities regulators, NASAA, just recently published their list of financial products that pose investor protection concerns. Not surprisingly given the level of rhetoric from the states, crowdfunding and internet-based offers of securities are at the top of the list of “new threats” to investors. The state securities regulators caution that once JOBS Act… Continue Reading
FINRA Joins the Crowd: Request for Comment on Crowdfunding
Posted in CrowdfundingToday, FINRA published Notice 12-34 requesting public comment on the scope of FINRA regulation that would be appropriate for member firms active in crowdfunding offerings. This is a welcome request, as it confirms FINRA’s role as the SRO with oversight over funding portals (which are not broker-dealers), and also seems to recognize that regulation of funding portals should… Continue Reading