On the heels of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issuing a Report on Digital Investment Advice last month, on April 7 the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a FINRA rule amendment that requires registration of persons that are “primarily responsible for the design, development or significant modification of algorithmic trading […]
After Henry Hill took his first pinch in Goodfellas, Jimmy Conway praised young Henry in the courtroom for learning and personifying the Mafia code: “Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.” While certainly one of the great bro-quotes in movie history, I don’t think I’m venturing […]
The SEC has had a healthy obsession with conflicts of interest as of late, and this week’s Guidance Update from the Division of Investment Management is no exception. The update, entitled “Acceptance of Gifts or Entertainment by Fund Advisory Personnel – Section 17(e)(1) of the Investment Company Act,” may at […]
This is the time of year when I tend to throw things at my television, yell at my car radio and redirect most of the mail I receive directly to the trash (sorry – the recycling bin for you greenies). The reason is simple: it’s election season, and the amount […]
It’s important to get one thing out of the way right off the bat: technically there is no requirement imposed upon investment advisors to maintain an anti-money laundering program pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 or the USA PATRIOT Act, as […]
Congratulations! You’ve contracted with a vendor to capture and archive all emails sent to and from employees within your advisory firm. Emails are set to be stored for not less than five years pursuant to the SEC’s recordkeeping requirements and are ready to be turned over when requested during an […]
The rulemaking phraseology of the SEC can be, at times, somewhat antiquated when it comes to the brave new world of the Internet and technology. To this day, there are references in the Advisers Act and the rules thereunder to, for example, “chat rooms,” “bulletin boards,” and “microfiche.” At the […]
The purchase, sale or merger of an advisory practice involves a whirlwind of tightly-coordinated efforts by a myriad of different parties. In the shuffle of negotiating the deal terms, settling on a valuation methodology, coordinating with custodians and integrating technological systems, when does the client get a say, if any? […]
The notion of “regulatory hot topics” has become somewhat of a misnomer given the “broken-windows” approach of today’s SEC [see footnote below]. To say that some regulatory topics are “hot” naturally implies that some regulatory topics are…not hot. I don’t think I’m too far afield to suggest that SEC Chair […]
Client referrals are arguably the lifeblood of the financial services industry, and understandably so. They are perhaps the greatest compliment a financial professional can receive, and it sure beats a random LinkedIn endorsement from that guy you had a fleeting interaction with at a conference five years ago. Some financial […]
The last time I used a microfilm reader was in the dusty depths of my college library, reviewing newspaper clippings from the 1960s for some God-forsaken reason. The windowless bunker looked and smelled as if it had been vacuum-sealed since the very period in history I was researching. Fast forward […]
Although the SEC may have hemorrhaged senior staff this year, its rules and regulations remain in full force and effect. For RIAs, this means that the end of the year should be a time to prepare for and tackle the annual regulatory requirements imposed upon them. In the first part of our […]
Malls are starting to be overrun with holiday shoppers, temperatures are dropping and congressional members will soon take a recess from fulfilling their civic duty of wearing power suits and hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars. Ah yes, all the signs of a coming winter are upon us. Although the SEC may have […]
On November 17, 2009, an act of God occurred: eight federal agencies agreed on something. That something was a set of four model privacy notice forms that could be delivered to consumers (including investment advisory clients) to satisfy the information disclosure requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB). Said another way, use of […]