Our Broker-Dealer Group has in-depth experience advising clients on complex and sophisticated broker-dealer regulatory issues, transactions ...
Jeff Robins
Andrew J. Ceresney
Their strengths lie in their ability to effectively combine regulatory expertise with industry knowledge to create practical business advice.
It is a very strong team and the biggest strength was their unyielding pursuit of successfully meeting all of our core objectives.
Debevoise possesses excellent industry knowledge. They have been valuable partners in understanding the risks presented by new initiatives and developing effective solutions to mitigate those risks.
—Chambers USA, 2020-2022
Ranked as a leading firm for Financial Services: Regulation.
Great balance of expert technical knowledge with a realistic commercial approach.
—The Legal 500 US, 2021-2022
Our Broker-Dealer Group has in-depth experience advising clients on complex and sophisticated broker-dealer regulatory issues, transactions, examination management and enforcement matters.
Broker-dealers are both comprehensively regulated and critical providers in multiinstitutional financial service offerings. Our broker-dealer group features dedicated experts in broker-dealer, exchange and ATS regulation and is an integral part of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group working closely with our other financial services practices, including banking, derivatives, insurance and investment management to provide multidisciplinary solutions. We also work closely with the firm’s broader practices, including and structured finance, securities, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, hedge funds, project finance, executive compensation and employee benefits, intellectual property and litigation groups to provide seamless legal service to our broker-dealer clients.
Our attorneys advise clients on all aspects of statutory, SEC and SRO regulation, including registration requirements, capital, custody, margin and other financing rules, sales and trading practices, marketplace requirements, and duties to customers, supervisory and reporting requirements, anti-money laundering and privacy programs and insider trading. We develop compliance and supervisory programs, perform compliance reviews and conduct internal investigations. We counsel clients on the formation and operation of broker-dealers and alternative trading systems and prepare SRO membership applications. We advise broker-dealers, exchanges and clearing houses across a full range of practice areas, including new product offerings, , financings, derivatives, public and private sales of securities mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and reorganizations. We structure and document complex service offerings, including cash and synthetic prime-brokerage, cross-border arrangements clearing and trading platforms, and structured products. We also represent clients in enforcement and litigation proceedings.
Our clients include many of the best known full-service, discount, regional and online broker-dealers, securities exchanges, alternative trading systems, market makers, mutual fund distributors and dual-registered firms. We represent these financial services companies as well as boards of directors, committees, executives and individuals. Our practice spans U.S. broker-dealer regulation and financial regulation in Europe and Asia. The lawyers in our group counsel clients subject to the Securities Exchange Commission, FINRA, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Japanese Securities Exchange Surveillance Commission on compliance matters, regulation, enforcement proceedings and investigations.
The lawyers in our practice include the former Chair, Enforcement Division Director, and senior Enforcement leadership from the Securities Exchange Commission and collectively brings decades of experience counselling broker-dealers in private practice. This combined experience provides our team with substantial understanding of the complex regulatory and business needs of our clients.