Compliance

From a recent speech by the the head of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (now known as the Examinations Division):

The past few years have seen quite a bit of regulatory activity. The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination (now known as the “Office of Examinations”) issued nine Risk Alerts in 2020, five in 2019 and five more in … Continued

The latest Risk Alert from the SEC discusses investment adviser compliance programs can be found here.    

I just reached out to the SEC with a question about registration and was met with this rather abrupt response:

Peter B. Driscoll, Acting Director, Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations recently gave a speech on improving investment adviser compliance.

The position of chief compliance officer of a registered investment adviser has always carried with it the risk of personal liability. Being an outsourced CCO is even more perilous.

As stated in the recent SEC Risk Alert, the 4 most frequent compliance issues identified in examinations of investment advisers are as follows:

Congratulations to the team at Digital Compliance and the launch of their very first compliance app – CCO Companion. We are proud to be the sole content provider for all of CCO Companion’s original compliance material. We believe, and from early … Continued

With the SEC’s greater emphasis on risk-based exams, SEC examiners’ primary focus is on an adviser’s controls and procedures. As such, they will perform an evaluation of the effectiveness of those controls. Where those controls are found to be weak and ineffective, or … Continued

“Forensic testing” is certainly the buzzword in compliance circles. Think CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Essentially, an adviser should conduct some type of transactional or quality control tests that will assist the adviser in determining whether its activities are consistent with … Continued

Lest you think the SEC is not serious about holding individuals personally liable, here is an excerpt from a recent speech by Chairperson White: Individual Liability:  Any discussion of strong enforcement tools must include a discussion of our priority of … Continued

The SEC recently conducted examinations of around 20 SEC-registered investment advisers and investment companies that outsourced their CCOs to unaffiliated third parties. The general takeaway is that outsourced CCOs sometimes were not knowledgeable about a firm’s business practices, did not have access to … Continued

Busy schedules and deadlines can make shortcuts seem appealing. But the work we complete and how we complete it matters.

The SEC has made it clear time and time again that the first step toward developing strong written policies and procedures is for an investment adviser to identify all areas that create risk exposure or the potential for risk exposure. Accordingly, … Continued

In a recent speech an SEC official said that the presence of robust, effective compliance programs would allow companies to reap significant credit in their dealings with regulators. He spoke about the ways the SEC supports compliance and ethics programs. … Continued