Per the June release by the SEC in footnote 18, the SEC has raised the floor of assets under management above which advisers must register with the SEC to $110 million. However, they are permitted to register at $100 million. … Continued
Today starts the 30 day FINRA Certification Period for Super Account Administrators. According to the message sent out by FINRA: One of the responsibilities of FINRA Super Account Administrators (SAA) is to ensure that users in their organization who require … Continued
A proposal to turn over the supervision of financial advisers to a self-regulatory organization (SRO) gained the support of SEC Chairperson Mary Schapiro. The SEC has the resources to conduct annual examinations of only 9% of U.S. registered advisers, who … Continued
I spoke with a senior state regulator who told me point blank that the best thing I can tell clients who need to transition from SEC to state registration due to the increased AUM threshold, is start early. She said … Continued
Spoke at length with a state regulator the other day. His exact quote: “Registration transition is going to be complete chaos.”
GET STARTED EARLY The state process can be quite protracted under ordinary circumstances. There will be nothing ordinary when thousands of transitioning advisers begin to overwhelm limited state resources.
NET CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS Determine if any net capital or net worth requirements apply. Usually, advisers with custody (even if it is only custody as a result of direct fee deduction) have to meet certain net capital requirements. Some states will … Continued
DOCUMENTS Determine what documents must be filed as part of the state registration process, review and update those documents if you already have them and/or draft new documents if necessary. States have very specific rules about what should be in … Continued
DETERMINE STATES OF REGISTRATION One of things you can do now to help ease your transition from SEC registration to registration with one or more states is determine the state(s) in which you must register. Seems obvious, huh? Just wait. … Continued
REGISTER FIRST – WITHDRAW SECOND The most important thing to remember about transitioning from SEC to state registration (other than to actually do it if you have less than $90 million in AUM) is do not – repeat, do not … Continued
We now know that at the $90 million asset under management threshold, approximately 3,300 SEC-registered advisers will be required to transition to registration with one or more states. Quite a few of these transitioning SEC advisers are positively giddy with … Continued
Recently enacted SEC rules have clarified the assets under management requirement for SEC registration. While $100 million in AUM is the figure that has caught everybody’s attention, the actual workings of the new threshold are a bit more complicated. If … Continued
From the Massachusetts Securities Division: The Massachusetts Securities Division (the “Division”) is adopting, as amended from the original proposals, regulations found at 950 CMR 12.200 et. seq. (the “Regulations”). With the exception of 950 CMR 12.205(9)(c)(16), the adopted regulations shall … Continued
Dear Compliance Professional, The recently adopted SEC rules and rule amendments refer to an adviser’s “regulatory assets under management.” This new terminology distinguishes the assets reported in Form ADV Part 1 from the assets under management disclosure that advisory clients … Continued
Dear Compliance Professional, The rules adopted by the SEC last week provided much needed clarity to both the new assets under management (AUM) threshold for SEC registration and the required transition of certain “mid-sized” SEC-registered investment advisers to state registration. … Continued
The SEC is contemplating delaying the “forced” transition from SEC to State registration for investment advisers with less than $100 million in assets under management until Q1 2012. Originally slated for later this year, apparently the IARD system is ill-equiped … Continued
Dear Compliance Professional, This past Friday (November 19th), the SEC proposed new rules to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). This brief Compliance Alert addresses one aspect of those proposed rule changes … Continued