On November 16, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) published in the Federal Register final rules requiring registered advisers to private funds to report certain information on Form PF. Form PF is required by Sections 404 and 406 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), and the final rule (the “Final Rule”) marks the culmination of a process that began in January 2011 with the issuance of proposed Form PF (the “Proposed Rule”). Form PF seeks to collect information the Financial Stability Oversight Council (the “FSOC”) can use to monitor the activities of private funds and their advisers and the risk they pose to the U.S. financial system. The FSOC may also use the information reported on Form PF to issue recommendations for new regulations on the financial activities of private funds and their advisers to address systemic risk. In addition, the SEC and CFTC may use the information provided on Form PF in their roles as the primary regulators of private funds and advisers, including in connection with their regulatory programs, such as examinations, investigations and investor protection efforts.

The Dodd-Frank Act requires the FSOC to coordinate with foreign financial regulators in assessing systemic risk. Accordingly, the staffs of the SEC and CFTC consulted with the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority, the International Organization of Securities Commissions and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission in order to align Form PF with the approaches of international regulators of private funds. The FSOC will use the information collected on Form PF to assist in determining whether and how to deploy regulatory tools, such as identifying private funds requiring additional analysis and deciding whether to recommend more stringent regulation of the financial activities of the private fund industry.

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