Our recent posts have walked you through the SEC’s new marketing rule and discussed valuation and fee assessment. Now, with the ADV season, hopefully, in your rear-view mirror, we turn your attention to planning for the remainder of the year. Determining the most efficient use of a compliance department’s time and resources is essential. Fortunately,
Valuation and Fee Assessment – What Your Compliance Program Needs to Have
Over the last three posts to the blog (overview, performance, promoters), we’ve interrupted our previous schedule to provide insight into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) recently adopted changes to the rules governing investment adviser marketing and advertising. In today’s post, we resume our previous topic thread focusing on the
Posting or Paying for a Review – SEC Changes Game for Testimonials and Solicitors
Word-of-mouth is still one of the best ways to attract business. Investors, whether new or seasoned, consistently look to the experiences of previous customers or talk to someone they trust before they hire a financial adviser. As a result, posting great reviews and compensating others to make recommendations continues to be a key part of
Proper Performance Promotion- The SEC’s New Advertising Rule: When Adviser Performance Marketing Goes Too Far.
Today we continue our discussion of the SEC’s recent changes to the Advertising Rule. In our last post, Josh covered the general definitional changes and prohibitions. In this entry, we will highlight the new Advertising Rule’s impact on performance advertising.
As we have discussed, the amended rule consolidates and supersedes former rules 206(4)-1 and
A New Approach to Advertising – the SEC Revises Investment Adviser Advertising Regulation
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special update. Well, technically it’s the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) update and it pertains to the regulation of investment adviser advertising. On December 22, 2020, the SEC amended the current regulatory framework governing investment adviser advertising. In making these changes, the SEC incorporated
Books and Records – Two Small Words and One Enormous Rule
If there was ever a reason to follow Josh’s advice to involve compliance early in building out the functionality of your robo-adviser, the recordkeeping requirements of the Advisers Act are it. As Josh mentioned in his post, Advisers Act Rule 204-2 imposes extensive recordkeeping requirements that you’ll want to be familiar with from the
Robo Advisors and Custody Rules of the Road
By Marc B. Minor
Investment advisers, rightly, focus much of their attention on satisfying their fiduciary duty through careful investment recommendations. However, advisers’ duties also include ensuring that client cash and securities are transferred for investment, and held, safely by the custodian of those assets.
For robo-advisers, client onboarding, facilitating the transfer of funds and
Ensuring the Accuracy of your Disclosure
Thus far, our review of the necessary components of your compliance program has focused on discrete areas. This post focuses on another equally important aspect of your compliance program that touches all of those other areas; ensuring the accuracy of your disclosures. After all, what’s the point of putting in all of the hours to
Proprietary Trading – Follow the Golden Rule
When it comes to trading in your firm’s own investment accounts (proprietary trading), it’s never cherry-picking season. Instead, when allocating investment opportunities, you should follow the golden rule – treat your clients like you want to be treated.
What does this mean? As an investment adviser, your fiduciary duty requires you to allocate securities and
Personal Trading Policies
Our blog recently discussed how soft dollar arrangements can impact the bottom line for both advisers and investors, and therefore require adequate disclosure. Other compliance requirements involve non-client facing operations, but are equally important to monitoring and protecting against conflicts of interest. The Personal Trading Policy is one such requirement.
The Investment Advisers Act and