Chris Salter

Partner

Chris Salter is a partner in O’Melveny's Washington, DC office. Chris’ practice focuses primarily on advising financial institution clients, and specifically broker-dealers, investment advisers, private equity funds, and hedge funds on compliance with the federal securities laws and regulations and on compliance with the rules of the self-regulatory organizations (SROs), including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Previously, Chris worked at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Attorney in the Division of Market Regulation. Chris also is a Certified Public Accountant who worked as an Audit Manager for the US Government Accountability Office and as a Staff Accountant for KPMG Peat Marwick, where he obtained extensive accounting and financial regulatory experience.

While at the SEC, Chris responded to requests from broker-dealers and self-regulatory organizations for interpretation, guidance, and no-action relief with regard to the SEC’s broker-dealer financial responsibility rules, including the net capital rule, the customer protection rule, the books and records rules and the financial reporting rules. In addition, Chris worked extensively on various SEC rulemaking efforts, including the adoption of a limited regulatory structure for dealers active in the over-the-counter derivatives market.

Chris has extensive experience advising clients with respect to broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation. Chris routinely helps broker-dealers and investment advisers in registering with the SEC the states and becoming members of SROs. Chris routinely advises clients on their supervisory procedures and compliance policies, and assists clients with the development of their policies and procedures. Chris has extensive experience with compliance reviews and audits as well as internal investigations. Chris also represents clients in enforcement actions before the SEC, SROs, the US Attorney’s Offices, and the State Attorney General’s Offices.

Illustrative Professional Experience

• Drafted supervisory procedures manuals, compliance manuals, and codes of ethics for broker-dealers and investment advisers
• Conducted regulatory due diligence with respect to transactions involving regulated entities (e.g., the purchase or sale of a broker-dealer and an initial public offering by a facility of a national securities association) 
• Assisted clients in responding to industry sweeps conducted by the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations
• Counseled financial institutions on anti-money laundering and OFAC issues
• Counseled broker-dealers and investment advisers with respect to examinations conducted by the staff of the SEC, the NASD Inc., and the New York Stock Exchange LLC
• Conducted internal investigations with respect to potential violations of the federal securities laws and regulations and self regulatory organization rules
• Represented clients being investigated by the SEC, the US Attorney's Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for violations of securities laws 
• Represented the working group of a national securities association in seeking relief from the SEC with respect to certain books and records requirements 
• Performed compliance reviews for broker-dealers and investment advisers to private funds (e.g., private equity and hedge funds). 
• Counseled broker-dealers on compliance with the SEC’s financial responsibility rules, including the Net Capital Rule and the Customer Protection Rule

Professional Activities

Member, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association 
Moderator, “Financial Responsibility”, 31st Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Course of Study on Broker Dealer Regulation (June 18-19, 2009);
Panelist, “Market Regulation”, PLI’s Advanced Securities Law Workshop (August 16-17, 2007); "Negotiating Your Clearing Agreement", SIA Small Firms Conference & Exhibit (October 18-20, 2006)
Publications: 

• "SEC Amends Custody Rule for Investment Advisers," Insights, Volume 24, Number 2, (February 2010)
• “Proposed Changes to Investment Advisers Custody Rule,” Insights: The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor, Volume 23, Number 6 (June 2009)
• “Short Selling and Naked Shorts in the Regulation SHO Environment,” The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation, (November 2007)
• “SEC Update: SEC Proposes Soft Dollar Interpretation,” Wall Street Lawyer, (December 2005)
• “SEC Update: Point of Sale Disclosure,” Wall Street Lawyer, (June 2005)
• “SEC Update: Non-Purpose Stock Borrow Transactions, Order Handling Rule Proposals, and Marking Order Tickets,” Wall Street Lawyer, (March 2005)
• “SEC Update: Investment Analysis Tools, Securities Intermediaries, and Consumer Credit Reports,” Wall Street Lawyer, (January 2005)
• “SEC Releases Final Rule Requiring Hedge Fund Manager Registration,” Banking & Financial Services Policy Report, Volume 24, Number 1, (January 2005)
• “SEC Update: CEO Certification, Ban on Road Show Participation, and Voting Client
  Proxies,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 8, Number 6, (November 1, 2004)
• “SEC Update: SEC Proposes Requiring Certain Hedge Fund Managers to Register,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 8, Number 4, (September 2004)
• “SEC Update: 12b-1 Plans, Business Continuity Plans, and Sales of Variable Insurance Products” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 8, Number 2, (July 2004)
• “SEC Update: Investment Adviser Compliance and Supervisory Procedures; Past Specific Recommendations,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 7, Number 12, (May 2004)
• “SEC Update: Custody Rule Amendments and Balance Sheet and Trade-by-Trade Confirmation Delivery Exemptions,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 7, Number 5, (October 2003)
• “SEC Update: CCO and CEO Certification, Instant Messaging, and Expense Sharing Agreements,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 7, Number 3, (August 2003)
• “SEC Update: DTC Withdraws Rules, Breakpoints, and Collateral for Borrowed Securities,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 6, Number 11, (April 2003)
• “SEC Update: Issuer Repurchases, Insider Trading Reports, Money Laundering, and Trade-Through Disclosure,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 6, Number 9, (February 2003)
• “SEC Update: Bank Dealer Exemption, Broker-Dealer Financial Information, Supervisory Requirements, and Anti-Money Laundering Programs,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 6, Number 7, (December 2002)
• “SEC Update: Custody of Client Funds, Investment Company Mergers, and White Paper on Resilience of Financial Systems,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 6, Number 5, (October 2002)
• “SEC Update: Web-Based Order Handlers, Confirmation Rules, and Permissible Collateral,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 6, Number 3, (August 2002)
• “Information Sharing Under the USA Patriot Act,” The Banking Law Journal, (July/August 2002)
• “SEC Update: NASD Proposes Rules Requiring Business Continuity Plans,” Wall Street Lawyer, (June 2002)
• “SEC Update: Options Markets, Security Futures and Real-Time Trade Matching,” Wall Street Lawyer, Volume 5, Number 12, (May 2002)
• “SEC Update: Internet Fraud, Phony Web Sites, Pro Forma Disclosures, and a Nine-Point Plan,” WallStreetLawyer.com, Volume 5, Number 10, (March 2002)
• “SEC Supports Competition and Innovation (but Not Spoofing or Pro Forma Information), and Possible Changes Ahead for ETFs,” WallStreetLawyer.com, Volume 5, Number 8, (January 2002)
• “New Law Requires Updating Anti-Money Laundering Programs,” New York Law Journal, (November 1, 2001)
• “SEC Update: Margin Rules, Market Data, Online Fraud, and Best Execution,” WallStreetLawyer.com, Volume 5, Number 6, (November 2001)
• “SEC Update: Unwanted Trades Not Fraudulent, GAO Findings and the ICI Challenges Calls for Additional Disclosure,” WallStreetLawyer.com, Volume 5, Number 4, (September 2001)
• “SEC Update: Looking at Online Brokers and Unregistered Broker-Dealers,” Wallstreetlawyer.com, Volume 4, Number 10, (March 2001)
• “SEC Update: New Rules for Day-Trading Accounts and No Relief for an Online Transfer Agent,” WallStreetLawyer.com, (September 2000)

Client Alerts:

• SEC Adopts Amendments to Custody Rule (Securities Enforcement and Regulatory Counseling alert, January 2010)
• Securities and Exchange Commission Votes to Amend the Custody Rule (Securities Enforcement and Regulatory Counseling Alert, December 2009)
• Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009 (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, December 2009)
• Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009 (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, December 2009)
• Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009 (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, November 2009)
• Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009 (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, October 2009)
• Private Fund Transparency Act of 2009 is Introduced in Congress (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, July 2009)
• Investment Advisers and Private Funds Subject to Registration with the SEC Under the Obama Administration’s Plan for Financial Regulatory Reform (Investment Funds and Securitization Alert, June 2009)
• SEC Proposes Changes to the Custody Rule that Go Too Far; Impose Significant Costs and Fail to Address Shortcomings in the Existing Rule (Securities Enforcement and Regulatory Counseling Alert, June 2009)
• Recent SEC Regulatory Changes: Content of Forms U4 and U5 (Broker-Dealer Regulation and Compliance Alert, June 2009)
• Senate Bill Proposes Registration, Public Disclosure and Additional Compliance Obligations for Most Private Investment Funds (Investment Funds Alert, February 2009)
• Securities and Exchange Commission Issues New Rules on Short Selling (Corporate Finance Alert, September 2008)
• Lawsuits Against UltraShort Bond Funds Highlight The Enforcement Risks Of Valuing Illiquid Portfolio Assets In An Uncertain Economic Environment (Securities Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling Alert, July 2008)