On April 1, 2025, the First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a nearly $95 million judgment against our client Commonwealth Financial Network related to the sufficiency of Commonwealth’s revenue-sharing disclosures. The First...more
We are delighted to present the 2025 edition of our award-nominated private funds report, "FundsTrack: Trends in the Private Funds Market."
2024 was yet again an interesting time for private funds. Multiple elections...more
3/17/2025
/ Banking Regulators ,
Capital Markets ,
Climate Change ,
ELTIF ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infrastructure ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Pension Schemes ,
Private Funds ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Renewable Energy ,
Sustainable Finance ,
UK
The FCA consultation paper CP24/7 “Payment Optionality for Investment Research” considers the reintroduction of the bundling of research payments with broker’s execution fees....more
5/9/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
EU ,
Fees ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Research and Development ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
On August 23, 2023, a divided Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted far-reaching new rules and rule amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (Advisers Act). While the final rules are not as...more
In a Legal Alert issued before yesterday’s SEC Open Meeting, we posed questions relating to six things that our Investment Services team would be looking for. We now have answers to some of those questions....more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is holding an open meeting this Wednesday, August 23, to consider whether to adopt proposed rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that, if adopted as proposed, would...more
8/22/2023
/ Audits ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fees ,
Financial Statements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a Legal Alert issued before the SEC open meeting, we posed five questions that our Investment Services team would be looking out for as part of this meeting. We now have answers to some of these questions....more
7/31/2023
/ Analytics ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulation BI ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Standard of Care ,
Technology
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is holding an open meeting this Wednesday to consider whether to propose new and amended rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940...more
On February 15, 2022 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed sweeping changes to Rule 206(4)-2 (the Custody Rule) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), which would be redesignated as Rule...more
Now that the dust has settled on the SEC’s enforcement action against fifteen (15) broker-dealers and an investment adviser for violations of SEC recordkeeping rules applicable to the use of personal devices and off-channel...more
On January 26, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds (the Proposal). The Proposal...more
ESG will be front and center in the SEC’s 2021 agenda. Our ESG Matrix can help establish a baseline for compliance by SEC-regulated funds, investment advisers, private funds and insurance companies. The Matrix covers...more
On October 7, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed granting exemptive relief from the broker registration requirement in Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange...more
As anticipated, 2020 has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations face challenges in dealing with rules that impose a...more
4/17/2020
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insurance Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State Securities Regulators
On March 13, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a temporary order (the Order) providing conditional exemptive relief to investment advisers registered with the SEC (RIAs) and exempt reporting advisers...more
Getting in the know. In this Bottom Line videocast, Michael Koffler and Bria Adams discuss Advisers Act regulatory developments, including:
Modernization of the Advisers Act Custody Rule.
SEC guidance on proxy voting...more
Hear how proposed changes to the Advertising Rule and the Solicitation Rule under the Investment Advisers Act could affect private funds and their sponsors.
In this Bottom Line videocast, Michael Koffler and Michael Voynich...more
2/10/2020
/ Asset Management ,
Cash Solicitation Rule ,
Fund Sponsors ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Amendments ,
SEC Advertising Rule ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On December 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposed rule – “Amending the ‘Accredited Investor’ Definition” (the Proposed Rule) – that would expand access to private funds for certain...more
12/23/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Raising ,
Comment Period ,
Family Offices ,
Institutional Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Private Placements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Regulation D ,
Rule 506 Offerings ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Coming on the heels of the share class initiative, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is at the initial stages of another initiative involving concerns about adviser disclosures and conflicts related to bank...more
11/22/2019
/ Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FDIC ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Management Fees ,
Money Market Funds ,
Net Capital Rule ,
OCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
Recent SEC rulemaking and guidance heightened retail broker-dealer and investment adviser investment recommendation and advice standards and created certain compliance obligations with respect to account monitoring. Firms...more
On August 21, 2019, in a 3-2 vote, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted in favor of publishing guidance (guidance) regarding the proxy voting responsibilities of investment advisers (IAs). The guidance,...more
On March 29, 2018, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (the CFP Board) adopted a revised Code of Ethics (the Code) and Standards of Conduct (the Standards) that require a certified financial planner (CFP)...more
As anticipated, this year has seen a number of fiduciary and best interest investment advice regulations advance at both the federal and state levels. Firms subject to these regulations will face challenges in dealing with...more
On June 5, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a comprehensive package of rulemakings and interpretations governing the standard of conduct applicable to broker-dealers and the fiduciary duty applicable to...more
7/17/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Form ADV ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
Admittedly, it is not one of those “Do you remember where you were when it happened?” moments (for those old enough to remember, think November 16, 1981, when Luke and Laura married), but for the broker-dealer and investment...more