Who may be interested: Registered Investment Advisers, Mutual Funds, Compliance Officers - Quick Take: The SEC settled charges against two affiliated registered investment advisers, alleging that the advisers failed to...more
Noting Deficiencies, FINRA Suggests Best Practices for Reg BI Compliance - During its first-ever review of compliance with Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found...more
We are actively looking for circumstances where an adviser is financially conflicted by incentives that could affect investment recommendations to clients. ... And I will tell you: the more we look, the more undisclosed or...more
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Investment Management released frequently asked questions (FAQs) on October 18, 2019, which discuss certain compensation arrangements and related...more
Over the past several years, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement activity has eroded the stability of the once-standard lineup of share classes available to mutual fund investors. Starting with...more
In this issue, we summarize regulatory, litigation and industry developments from May to September 2019 impacting the investment management sector, including SEC action on standards of conduct for broker-dealers and...more
On Aug. 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) charged Commonwealth Equity Services LLC, dba Commonwealth Financial Network (Commonwealth), a registered independent investment adviser to private clients (but not...more
On April 30, 2019, the D.C. Circuit issued an important decision in Robare Group, Ltd. v. SEC, Slip Op. No. 16-1453, which rejected the long-standing approach of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission or SEC) that...more
On April 30, 2019, US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit decided an important case involving the disclosure obligations of investment advisers. The case decided that an adviser’s disclosure that it “may” have a conflict of...more
On August 7, 2017, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a Risk Alert providing a summary of the staff’s observations from sweep exams of broker-dealers, investment advisers and funds...more
When I first started in the 401(k) plan business in 1998, it was a boom time for the stock market and mutual funds. That got plan sponsors wanting daily valued participant directed 401(k) plans and that helped put almost an...more
In an attempt to “increase transparency, strengthen compliance, and inform the public and the financial services industry about key risks,” the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) published its 2013...more