One of our company’s longstanding commitments is investing time and resources to make the RIA in a Box MyRIACompliance platform the industry leading compliance technology offering for registered investment adviser (“RIA”) firms. We put the client first by delivering innovative software and expert advice. Since 2005 we have taken pride in partnering with our clients to establish and support the highest quality registered investment adviser firms in the country. At RIA in a Box, we release new MyRIACompliance software features and enhancements on a daily basis to meet the growing compliance challenges that investment advisers continue to confront.
Here are most noteworthy new MyRIACompliance features and updates released during 2020:
1. MyRIACompliance Private Fund Platform
Our Private Fund Platform is a customized version of our industry-leading MyRIACompliance online RIA compliance software platform. The platform is designed to address the unique regulatory requirements faced by private fund advisers including venture capital, private equity, and hedge fund managers. The private fund platform provides tools to manage and automate compliance processes and streamline regulatory filings, all in a centralized location saving private fund advisers time and money and providing them reassurance they are meeting all compliance requirements. The platform is designed for SEC-registered private fund advisers and exempt reporting advisers (ERAs).
Private Fund Platform features Include:
- Form PF Filings: An online module which helps to streamline the information gathering process to facilitate required Form PF filings for SEC-registered private fund advisers.
- Blue Sky and Form D Filings: An online tool that enables private fund advisers to more easily review limited partner information and initiate required Blue Sky or Form D Filings
- Risk Assessment Tool: The ability to review and document specific private fund adviser compliance risks areas as identified in the recent SEC risk alert in order to help implement any necessary compliance program changes.
- Private Fund Inventory: An overview of the funds managed by the adviser as disclosed on the adviser’s Form ADV including detail information and relevant compliance alerts for each fund.
- Tailored Private Fund Adviser Compliance Policies and Procedures: A tailored compliance manual can be created for private fund advisers with the assistance of a team of compliance consultants with extensive private fund compliance experience.
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SEC-registered RIA firms were required to submit an initial filing of the new Form ADV Part 3, otherwise known as “Form CRS” by June 30, 2020. To help streamline and automate the creation of the newly required Form CRS, RIA in a Box developed a proprietary online Form CRS creation tool which was made available at no additional charge to all MyRIACompliance® subscribers.
The automated tool uses the firm’s existing Form ADV data along with a short, rules-based smart questionnaire to create the required filing. The filing is crafted using “plain English” and is built to be machine readable to meet SEC requirements. The RIA in a Box team of compliance experts then works with the RIA firm, allowing the adviser to make any additional edits to the Form CRS.
3. MyRIACompliance® Mobile App
Earlier this year, RIA in a Box released the MyRIACompliance® Mobile App to help tackle regulatory tasks at anytime and anyplace. The mobile app features the compliance calendar, a compliance to-do list, and cybersecurity training videos. The app is available to download in the Apple and Android app stores.
- Compliance Calendar/To-Do List:
- Access to your Compliance Calendar
- Can be viewed as a monthly calendar or a weekly checklist
- Able to click on the specific compliance items to learn more
- Education Cybersecurity Training Videos:
- Complete continuing education requirements while on the go
- Advisors who are a part of the RIA in a Box® Cybersecurity Platform have access to monthly training videos
- Once a video is completed, a quiz is provided to test staff members
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4. Automated Employee Trade Monitoring Platform Enhancements
Over the last year, our team has diligently worked to enhance the MyRIACompliance® Automated Employee Trade Monitoring platform. With the ability to establish an electronic data feed to over 15,000 financial institutions, the employee trade monitoring feature automates the submission and tracking of personal securities holdings and transactions for RIA firms of all sizes.
New 2020 enhancements of this platform include:
- Private holdings capabilities: Based on approved private transactions for a given private company, MyRIACompliance® will automatically reconcile and display history in the private holding history
- Automatch Feature: This feature allows the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) to quickly identify potential trade violations of restricted transactions, holdings, and unauthorized transactions. When the automatch setting is enabled, MyRIACompliance® will programmatically match all employee trades that are within two days of employee trade requests that have the same employee, ticker, action, and shares.
- Autoflag Feature: Users who subscribe to both the Employee Trade Monitoring add-on feature of MyRIACompliance® and Orion will be able to benefit from the autoflag feature to identify potential front-running trade violations. When the autoflag setting is enabled, MyRIACompliance® will automatically flag all employee and client transactions that have the same date, holding name, and action alerting the CCO to take action.
- Error Notification Improvements: Users now receive weekly email containing any brokerage account errors with instructions on how to resolve the issue. CCOs will also receive weekly email informing them of which users at the firm have brokerage account errors.
- Continuous Monitoring, Front-running and Automatch Features: These three functionalities have been added on for those on our Comprehensive, Premium, and Advanced service levels. This means that MyRIACompliance® will automatically match employee transactions and client transactions and will send your Compliance Supervisor or CCO and email containing summary details of flagged transactions.
- Improved Navigation and Load Speeds: To improve the user experience, the platform has been revamped for smoother navigation and faster loading time, making it easier for users to move through the platform to utilize key components and view transactions, holdings, and accounts.
In February 2020, we released an open application programming interface (“API”) as part of the MyRIACompliance® platform. Firms now have the ability to push and pull relevant data to and from existing third-party technology systems to better automate internal processes and manage data. Portfolio management systems including Black Diamond, Morningstar, Orion, and more can now utilize the open API to track registrations and notice filings in real-time ensuring consistent and accurate filings. In addition, MyRIACompliance® Compliance Calendar data can be pulled into CRM systems to mark tailored compliance tasks as “complete” directly through the CRM system or MyRIACompliance®, eliminating the need to login and complete tasks in two different systems.
6. Vendor Due Diligence Platform
The Vendor Due Diligence Platform allows RIA firms and vendors to automate documentation sharing and tracking by sharing due diligence documentation (e.g., business continuity plan, email compliance, cyber security policies) all within in a single digital platform. RIA firms can connect with vendors directly via the platform to conduct initial or ongoing vendor due diligence. In 2020, 22 vendors joined the platform bringing our current total vendors to 37. Our platform is always evolving and we look forward to providing more enhancements in the future.
