As COVID-19 continues to impact global markets, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have recently provided certain guidance and targeted relief in recognition of the potential disruption that COVID-19 may have on market participants regulated by the Commission. The following Mayer Brown client alerts describe and take a closer look at certain COVID-19 related SEC guidance and targeted relief that primarily impacts investment advisers and funds.
- US SEC Provides Temporary, Conditional Relief to Funds and Advisers (authored by Stephanie Monaco and Leslie Cruz): This “Legal Update” client alert describes two SEC orders providing temporary, conditional exemptions from certain filing and delivery requirements under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and from in-person meeting and certain filing requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
- US SEC Staff Publishes Guidance on Annual Shareholder Meetings Related to COVID-19 (authored by Leslie Cruz and Adam Kanter): This client alert describes guidance from the SEC’s staff to assist investment companies and others affected by COVID-19 with their upcoming annual shareholder meetings.
- US SEC Announces Flexibility in Comment Period Closing Dates Due to COVID-19 Challenges (authored by Stephanie Monaco and Leslie Cruz): This “In Brief” client alert summarizes the SEC’s recent announcement that it will not take final action before April 24, 2020, regarding certain recent proposed actions, which have comment periods expiring in March, to allow additional time for comment submission.
- US Federal Reserve Establishes Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility as Part of COVID-19 Response (authored by Adam Kanter, Jeff Taft, Leslie Cruz and Matt Bisanz): In a post on our COVID-19 Response Blog, the authors provide further detail on the establishment of a liquidity facility for certain types of money market mutual funds and subsequent answers to frequently asked questions.
- SEC Expands Availability of Exempted Affiliated Transactions with Certain Registered Open-End Funds as Part of COVID-19 Response (authored by Stephanie Monaco and Leslie Cruz): In a post on our COVID-19 Response Blog, Stephanie Monaco and Leslie Cruz describe conditional no-action relief provided by the SEC’s staff to affiliates (and affiliates of those affiliates) of certain registered open-end investment companies permitting such parties to purchase debt securities from their affiliated registered funds under certain circumstances.
Additional information and insight can be found on Mayer Brown’s dedicated website on the impact of COVID-19. If you have any questions about the issues raised in the above alerts, please contact the above authors or any member of our Investment Management practice.