Has anyone else noticed the increased frequency with which regulators have been communicating with investment advisers? This is occurring on both the federal and state level. While I do applaud their efforts, the indiscriminate nature of the communications tends to lead to more confusion. Take, for example, the recent email from FINRA reminding advisers to certify their firm’s IARD account users. Even though single-investment adviser representative advisory firms do not need to annually certify user accounts, these firms still received the reminder email. Imagine the confusion when these firms logged on to their SAA account and could not figure out how to complete the annual certification . . . because it was impossible to do so. Ditto with the mass email sent to all advisers with the reminder to pay their annual renewal fees . . . even if those fees had already been paid.
More communication can be a good thing, if it is targeted to the needs of the actual recipient.