Lanny A. Schwartz

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Mr. Schwartz is a partner in the trading and markets practice within Davis Polk's Financial Institutions Group. [Full Bio]

In the first major trading and markets initiative under SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, on March 14, 2018, the SEC proposed to establish a transaction fee pilot program to study the effects of maker-taker fee structures. A pilot study was initially recommended by the SEC’s Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee in…
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Responding to a 2016 request by the SEC (in consultation with the Treasury Department), FINRA recently reviewed the extent to which various FINRA rules apply to U.S. Treasury securities.  Following up on that analysis, on February 6, 2018, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 18-05, requesting comment on whether it should…
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The Treasury Department’s recent report on capital markets regulation includes a robust discussion of equity market structure issues.  The report does not break new ground or raise issues that have not been debated previously at length, including by the SEC’s Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee (“EMSAC”).  That said, the report

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The U.S. Treasury’s new Capital Markets Report recommends additional administrative requirements for regulatory actions by the SEC and the CFTC (the “Agencies”).  If adopted, the process by which the Agencies issue new regulations and guidance may be more transparent and subjected to more rigorous cost-benefit analysis.  Rulemaking and issuing no-action…
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In the wake of a highly-publicized cybersecurity breach involving the SEC’s EDGAR system, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has been in the hot seat at recent congressional hearings, fielding pointed questions as to whether the SEC should delay implementation of the Consolidated Audit Trail (“CAT”).  The SEC has not announced a…
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Regulatory Considerations for Integrating a Brokerage Firm into a Corporate Group

The recent Davis Polk and Oliver Wyman webcast discussion on the regulatory issues faced when integrating a broker-dealer, is now available On Demand for your convenience.

The webcast reviews our memoon common regulation-driven integration considerations.

View the Webcast…
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In the August 25th episode of the CFTC podcast, CFTC Talks, the new Director of the CFTC’s Enforcement Division, James McDonald, discussed his priorities for the Division (transcript here), including providing incentives for entities to self-report non-compliance issues to the CFTC.

McDonald stressed that as part of…
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In a closely watched case, the Seventh Circuit last week affirmed the felony conviction of Michael Coscia, a New Jersey high frequency trader, rejecting his arguments that the anti-spoofing provision in the Commodity Exchange Act under which he was charged is unconstitutionally vague and that the evidence in the…
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A recent decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively raises the standard for SEC review and approval of rule change filings submitted by national securities exchanges, FINRA, and registered clearing agencies.  This decision could materially slow down a process that is a critical path for most self-regulatory organization…
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