Filing deadlines likely to be extended to November 21 after storm closed US equities markets for two days.
With hundreds of thousands of New York residents still without power following superstorm Sandy and many Wall Street firms seeking a return to normality after temporarily abandoning their offices, the SEC has announced it will extend filing deadlines for companies that may have missed them due to the storm. The SEC is ‘preparing relief measures that would extend filing deadlines for those affected by Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath in a continuing effort to provide assistance to individuals and entities attempting to comply with filing and other obligations under the federal securities laws in the aftermath,’ the commission says in a press release.
Although the SEC has not yet set a new deadline, it has already indicated the deadline may be extended to November 21. Last week, the SEC said it ‘understood filers may have difficulty making filings’ and that staff would handle requests for filing date adjustments on a case-by-case basis. ‘SEC staff are preparing relief measures that are expected to include extensions of filing deadlines for any filing due during the period from October 29, 2012 to November 20, 2012 for publicly traded companies, investment companies, investment advisers, other people with filing obligations, accountants, brokerage firms and transfer agents, among others,’ the commission said.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in a joint press release last week also announced a series of measures to ‘provide regulatory assistance to affected institutions’, including possible ‘prudent efforts to adjust or alter terms on existing loans in affected areas’, and more. ‘The agencies do not expect to assess penalties or take other supervisory action against institutions that take reasonable and prudent steps to comply with regulatory reporting requirements if those institutions are unable to fully satisfy those requirements by the specified filing deadlines because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy,’ the agencies said.
A week after the storm hammered much of the northeastern US and killed 100 people, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers were still without electricity and tens of thousands were homeless. The storm also forced the closure of US equities markets for two days, the first such closure since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Many major firms headquartered in New York City were still trying to resettle after scrambling to set up makeshift offices elsewhere.
Meanwhile, as the US presidential elections drew to a close on November 6, authorities were warning that another storm, albeit smaller than Sandy, was nearing the northeastern US coast and at least one New Jersey town was preparing to evacuate residents again.
