On March 4th, the SEC announced that it will provide conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations under the federal securities laws due to the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). These impacts may present challenges for certain companies that are required to provide information to trading markets, shareholders, and the SEC. These companies may include US companies located in or companies with operations in affected areas.

The SEC proposed on February 14th to modernize the infrastructure for the collection, consolidation, and dissemination of market data for exchange-listed market system (NMS) stocks. The proposal would update and expand the content of NMS market data, which would better suit the diverse needs of investors in today’s equity markets. The rules that govern the content and dissemination of NMS market data have not been significantly updated since their initial implementation in the late 1970s. In addition, the proposal seeks to introduce competitive forces into the national market system for the first time. The introduction of and competition among these new data consolidators could, in turn, allow all market participants, including investors, to access and benefit from the expanded content of NMS market data.

Version 5.3a of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR 20.1.1 and contains support for the 2020 XBRL taxonomies. Additionally, changes and improvements have been made to Page View, XBRL validation and XDX processing.

On February 28, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the third fee rate advisory for fiscal year 2020. Pursuant to Section 31(j)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the SEC has determined that a mid-year adjustment to the Section 31 fee rate for fiscal year 2020 is not required.

On February 25th, the SEC announced it would be opening registration for its compliance outreach program’s national seminar for investment companies and investment advisers. This event is intended to aid chief compliance officers (CCOs) and other senior personnel at investment companies and advisory firms in enhancing their programs to benefit the protection of investors. The compliance outreach program is jointly sponsored by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, the Division of Investment Management, and the Asset Management Unit of the Division of Enforcement.

Last month I described a tool I built to create and insert web news links in my blog, “A Quick Web Link Builder”. I recently expanded the functionality to load the web page and extract information to load link information into the dialog, thus making linking an even quicker process.

On February 24th, the SEC updated its Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) list, which contains entities that have been subject of investor complaints. This list of entities falsely claim to be registered, licensed, and/or located in the United States, impersonate genuine registered securities firms, and claim to be fictitious regulators, government agencies, or organizations. The goal of the PAUSE list is to better inform investors so that they can avoid becoming the victim of fraud.

The SEC Office of Structured Disclosure has announced that the 2012 and 2013 INVEST taxonomies will no longer be supported by EDGAR as of the EDGAR release currently scheduled for March 9, 2020. These taxonomies were intended for use in the voluntary filing program. The voluntary filing program has ended, so support for these taxonomies will be removed.

An interim release (version 5.2ab) of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This interim release addresses issues that have arisen due to the latest Windows 10 Feature Update 1909. Because this is an interim release that is not part of our regular updates, you will need to use the Updater.exe file within the application installation directory in order to update the software. Users who are working with IFRS inline XBRL are also encouraged to download this release.

On January 30th, the SEC proposed amendments to modernize, simplify, and enhance particular financial disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K. These amendments would eliminate duplicative disclosures and update and enhance Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) information, which would benefit investors while simplifying compliance efforts for companies. In addition, the SEC announced it is providing guidance on key performance indicators and metrics in MD&A disclosures.

Five federal agencies voted on January 30th to invite public comment on a proposal that would modify regulations that govern the implementation of the Volcker rule’s general prohibition on banking entities investing in or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds (known as “covered funds”). Since the regulations implementing the Volcker rule were finalized in 2013, the rule has created some compliance uncertainty and also imposed limits on certain banking services and activities that the rule was not intended to restrict.

On January 23rd, the SEC announced that it will host a conference that will focus on municipal securities, which are predominantly owned by Main Street investors and help finance important public projects, including schools, roads, and utilities. This conference, scheduled for March 10th, is entitled “Spotlight on Transparency: A Discussion of Secondary Market Municipal Securities Disclosure Practices”.