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 Dec. 31, you will be required to file an annual amendment to your Form ADV by March 30, 2024.
On August 23, 2023, a divided SEC voted to adopt enhanced regulations of private fund advisers. These included two rules that all investment advisers managing private funds must follow: the Preferential Treatment Rule and the Restricted Activities Rule.
Last year was a busy year for the SEC, and 2024 is expected to be even busier. The New Year is a great time to take a fresh look at your compliance program to make sure you are meeting the most up-to-date best practices, and to ensure you are prepared for regulatory inspection.
Time to ask IARs if they have completed annual Continuing Education (“CE”) requirements. Eleven states have continuing education requirements for Investment Adviser Representatives (“IARs”) with final effective dates. Even more jurisdictions have planned or passed a CE requirement for the future. Notices have already been sent to IARs with a CE requirement.
On September 14, the Private Fund Adviser Rules were published in the Federal Register. Given the complexity of the rules, it can be hard to keep track of which rules hit when and which rules are applicable to whom. This chart maps out each rule’s corresponding compliance dates, grandfathering provisions, and to whom it applies.
On November 14, 2023, the SEC released its FY 2023 Enforcement Results. In FY 2023 results, the SEC included how many enforcement actions and standalone enforcement actions were filed along with the price of penalties, disgorgement, and amount returned to harmed investors.
On October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor proposed a new rule that would extend the current definition of “investment advice fiduciary” to include advisers when they “give investment advice for a fee to retirement plan participants, individual retirement account owners and others,” according to the DOL’s Press Release.
On October 16, 2023, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (“EXAMS”) published its 2024 Examination Priorities. These annual priorities highlight certain practices, products, and services that present potentially heightened risks to investors or the integrity of US capital markets.
On September 29, 2023, the SEC charged five broker-dealers, three dual registrants, and two affiliated investment advisors with “widespread and longstanding failures to maintain and preserve electronic communications,” according to the SEC’s press release. The ten firms will pay combined penalties of $79 million. Each firm was also censured and served a cease-and-desist order.