Each week we’re giving you our weekly report highlighting the top compliance news articles from various industry news publications. We have selected the most relevant and important news articles related to registered investment adviser (RIA) compliance and regulatory issues. Check back each week for the latest list of top stories.
Here’s our “Thanksgiving Edition” of top investment adviser compliance articles for the week of November 21, 2015:
- Investment Advisers Don’t Need Mystery Monitors (Author- Norm Champ, Wall Street Journal)
Norm Champ, the former director of the Division for Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chimed in this week on the SEC RIA exam frequency debate with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Champ, much like our previous analysis points to, makes the case that outsourcing investment adviser audits to third-party firms would be quite costly to advisory firms and their clients. Most notably, Mr. Champ argues that the SEC should first re-allocate existing internal resources before pursuing the third-party exam option.
- SEC’s fiduciary standard expected in October 2016 (Author- Alessandra Malito, InvestmentNews)
According to the SEC Office of Management and Budget’s fall agenda which was recently released, the new fiduciary rule officially titled the Personalized Investment Advice Standard of Conduct is expected to be released in October 2016. Alessandra Malito provides some additional perspective on what the future time line for this controversial may look like.
- If He Had a Hammer (Advisers Would Be Ducking) (Author- Bob Veres, FinancialPlanning)
RIA industry guru, Bob Veres, once again chimes in with his thoughts on various regulatory topics currently impacting the investment adviser industry. Mr. Veres shares his thoughts on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the CFP Board, and the SEC. In particular, he proposes a few solutions to address the numerous “conflicts of interest” he sees across the financial industry.
- Danger, Will Robinson – Risk of Third Party Exams Ahead (Author- Neil Simon, Investment Adviser Association)
Neil Simon, Vice President for Government Relations at the Investment Adviser Association (IAA), follows up Mr. Champ’s Wall Street Journal op-ed piece with some of his own thoughts on granting SEC investment adviser examination authority to third parties. In particular, Mr. Simon notes that moving down the path of third party RIA exams might open the door for FINRA to regulate RIA firms.
Be sure to check back next Friday for next week’s top articles!