First and foremost, Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) are held to a standard of fiduciary duty by the SEC. As defined by the SEC, RIAs must act in the best interests of their clients, should not engage in activities that are in conflict with the interest of the client, and must provide a full disclosure of all material facts to clients and prospective clients.
To prove that they are able to meet these standards, RIA firms must have solid compliance programs in place.
If you work in the financial services industry, you know how important it is to have clear, consistent, and compliant policies and procedures. Policies and procedures enable firms to align operations with strategic objectives, meet regulatory requirements, and foster a culture of accountability and transparency.
But managing policies and procedures is often easier said than done. It can be a complex and challenging endeavor to create, update, communicate, and enforce policies and procedures across the firm—and to ensure policy stays up to date in times of flux and uncertainty.
The 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report provides firms with insight into findings from FINRA’s regulatory operations programs including Member Supervision, Market Regulation and Enforcement. Addressing a broad range of topics spanning conflicts of interest, disclosures, communication practices and crypto asset compliance, the report contains information that firms can use to strengthen their compliance programs in 2024 and beyond.
2023 was another active year for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement, encompassing a wide range of violations against individuals and firms of all sizes.
Understanding 2023 enforcement actions along with the agency’s 2024 enforcement priorities will help firms better assess and anticipate regulatory expectations—and set the stage for better compliance.
Employees at all levels of the organization make decisions that impact compliance every single day. To ensure that those decisions are wise ones, employees need to understand where they fit into the organization. If there's not a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities supported by controls and accountability there's a risk of chaotic compliance—and a chaotic culture across the firm.
