FINRA, NYSE and NASDAQ issue alerts to their members on the recent trend of significant unusual price increases on the day of or shortly after the IPOs of small-cap issuers, most of which involve issuers with operations in China and other foreign countries, as part of so-called “ramp and dump” schemes, and place the obligation to battle the schemes on underwriters as “gatekeepers to the public markets.”
The SEC and OTC Markets Group follow through on prohibiting brokerage firms from quoting prices for OTC stocks for which brokers don’t have current, and thus reliable, financial information. Shareholders and investors of more than 2,000 publicly traded OTC Pink No Information companies (about 16% of all OTC companies and 18% of all OTC Pink companies) will now find it more difficult to buy and sell those stocks on the Expert Market.
Recognizing the longstanding need for a new approach to the regulation of finders who help smaller businesses raise early stage capital, the SEC has published a notice of a proposed exemptive order and request for comment to formalize the regulatory status of unregistered finders. The proposed finders exemption from broker-dealer registration would facilitate a role for unregistered finders in the capital-raising process and clarify the circumstances under which issuers can legally compensate finders who comply with specified conditions. The author’s thoughts on the proposed finders exemption follow a summary of the rule proposal.