On October 24, Staff in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (the “Staff”) issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert announcing that it is examining registered investment advisers and registered broker-dealers compliance with key whistleblower provisions arising out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). The Commission recently has brought several enforcement actions charging violations of Rule 21F-17 of the Commission’s whistleblower regulations.

The Staff now is routinely reviewing, among other things, compliance manuals, codes of ethics, employment agreements, and severance agreements to determine whether provisions in those documents pertaining to confidentiality of information and reporting of possible securities law violations may raise concerns under Rule 21F-17.
Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was added by the Dodd-Frank Act.  To implement Section 21F, among other things, the Commission adopted Rule 21F-173 thereunder which provides that “no person may take any action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation, including enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality agreement . . . with respect to such communications.”

The Staff highlighted that “Recent enforcement actions have identified certain provisions of confidentiality or other agreements required by employers as contributing to violations of Rule 21F-17 because they contained language that, by itself or under the circumstances in which the agreements were used, impeded employees and former employees from communicating with the Commission concerning possible securities law violations. This potential chilling effect can be especially pronounced when such documents (e.g., severance agreements) provide that an employee may forfeit all benefits if he or she violates any terms of the agreement.” Alert.