Form CRS: What You Should Know WHAT HAPPENED? In April 2018, the SEC released a proposed rule which would require investment advisers to provide a relationship summary to prospective clients. Form CRS, or Form 3, is intended to give retail clients simple and straightforward information about investment advisers, written [...]
FINRA Cites "Unreasonable" Email Review - Firm Fined, Censured WHAT HAPPENED? On April 12, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued a settlement with a Salt Lake City-based broker-dealer, Wilson-Davis & Company (“Wilson-Davis”), due to poorly designed and implemented email review procedures. The misconduct was observed January-August 2013 [...]
FINRA's 2019 Entitlement User Accounts Certification WHAT HAPPENED? The FINRA Entitlement Program requires an annual review and certification of user accounts to ensure that all persons with access to FINRA applications are approved to do so. The review specifically evaluates that users have an ongoing need to access FINRA [...]
OCIE Warns Advisers and Broker-Dealers of Regulation S-P Compliance Issues WHAT HAPPENED? On April 16, 2019, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) published a list of compliance issues in connection with Regulation S-P. Regulation S-P requires registered investment advisers, investment companies, and broker-dealers (“registrants”) to provide notice [...]
SEC Officials Comment on Evolving Proxy Voting Process WHAT HAPPENED? In remarks during the ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference, SEC Commissioner Elad Roisman and Director of the Division of Investment Management, Dalia Blass, spoke on the future of the proxy voting process. Blass announced that, in 2019, [...]
Reminder: Annual Brochure Delivery Obligation WHAT HAPPENED? Reminder: for Advisers with fiscal year-end Dec. 31, the annual brochure delivery deadline is approaching on April 30. The Adviser Act regulation (Section 275.204-3) states that Advisers must distribute, to each client and prospective client, brochures containing all information required by Form [...]
IARD and PFRD Systems Inaccessible 3 weekends in April WHAT HAPPENED? The SEC announced that the IARD and PFRD systems will be unavailable during three weekends in April, plus Good Friday; the outages will occur: Friday, April 5 11:00 p.m. to Monday April 8 5:00 a.m.; Friday, April 12 [...]
BB&T Subsidiary Must Pay $5.7 Million After Policy Violation WHAT HAPPENED? On March 5, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordered BB&T Securities to pay $5.7 million following Valley Forge Asset Management’s intentional overcharging of clients. The undue charges occurred from 2013 to 2016 and involved requiring clients [...]
SEC Requirement: Annual Amendment for Form ADV WHAT HAPPENED? The SEC requires that investment advisers file a Form ADV Annual Amendment within 90 days of the end of the Adviser’s fiscal year. If your fiscal year ended December 31, you will be required to file an annual amendment to [...]
FINRA Releases Report on Selected Cybersecurity Practices WHAT HAPPENED? On December 20th, 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) released a Report on Selected Cybersecurity Practices (the “2018 Report”). In it, FINRA outlines five topics of focus: Cybersecurity controls in branch offices; Methods of limiting phishing attacks; Identifying and [...]