MyComplianceOffice Blog

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released the staff bulletin Standards of Conduct for Broker-Dealers and Investment Adviser Conflicts of Interest to reiterate the required standards and obligations for broker-dealers under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and for investment advisers the fiduciary duty standards under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The SEC issued the Risk Alert Investment Adviser MNPI Compliance Issues to provide investment advisers, investors, and other market participants with information concerning notable deficiencies that the the Division of Examinations (“EXAMS”) has cited related to material non-public information (MNPI) and Code of Ethics Issues.

It should come as no surprise to compliance teams that the management of Books and Records is in the regulatory spotlight. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged several large Wall Street firms with widespread record keeping failures. The firms will be required to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and also must make substantive improvements to their compliance policies and procedures around books and records.

Compliance is a crucial business function for every large-scale and small-scale organisation. It is imperative that organisations monitor the compliance landscape on a consistent basis. However, doing so requires a great deal of time and resources, and remaining compliant at all times is an even bigger task.

The Division of Examinations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently released a Risk Alert to provide an overview of compliance issues observed in examinations of registered investment advisers that manage private funds. The alert covered areas including conflicts of interest when actions are inconsistent with disclosures and noted the importance of policies and procedures.