Law360: SEC Eases Decades-Old Wall Street Analyst Restrictions

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to lift some restrictions imposed on large financial institutions over two decades ago in a crackdown on alleged conflicts of interests involving investment banks and their research analysts, agreeing with the banks that modification of the settlements was proper due to a 2015 rule that addressed the same problem. “The SEC’s 2003 Global Research Analyst Settlements served their purpose, filling a temporary regulatory gap,” said O’Melveny partner Abby Rudzin. “As our clients argued, FINRA’s Rule 2241, which governs research conflicts of interest, has been in place since 2015 so there is no longer a need for two different regulatory regimes — one governing the settling financial institutions and one governing all others.” The O’Melveny team advising Piper and Stifel also includes of counsel Michele Layne, and associate Parisa Sadeghi.

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