On March 3rd, the SEC released its examination priorities for 2021. Here’s what they called out:

All states except New York have long had an individual registration requirement for investment adviser representatives (IARs). But that’s about to change.

Written By Yuri Bredle

Managing compliance remotely comes with its own set of challenges; but as with any new task or discipline, it gets easier the more you do it.

By Charles Black

Reality Check is an occasional blog post series we do where we analyze actual SEC enforcement actions or examination experiences and give you a summary of what to expect in the “real world.”

by Lucy Lee

Financial technology or fintech for short is extremely beneficial for businesses due to its widespread utility. It refers to software, algorithms, and applications that are used on desktop and mobile platforms. These are used to manage investments, deposit checks, move money across accounts, and make payments. Without being aware of it, almost all consumers use fintech on a daily basis. However, it also provides many benefits to businesses for back-end and front-end processes. For instance, Bo J. Howell explains how automation has lowered transaction costs for investors, such as zero-fee ETFs, giving some businesses a competitive edge. In addition, it gives investors more options for managing their assets. It is also helping business in many other ways:

by John Williams
Director of Compliance Services at Joot

The Securities & Exchange Commission recently issued a Risk Alert to share some of the observations that the Office of Compliance Inspections & Examinations (OCIE) have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Charles Hamparian
CEO of Sentience

In this age of cloud computing, smaller businesses have had increasing access to enterprise-class virtualization tools that were usually reserved for the largest organizations. By utilizing these protocols your organization can have the ability to work compliantly and remotely from anywhere in the world. Virtualizing your business means increased uptime and scalability while also drastically reducing overall running costs. A solid foundation on which to build your virtualized business should include the following:

By: Peg McLaughlin

With every new regulatory policy or form, the first time implementing it is always challenging. There are no models to follow or examples to guide you. Fortunately for our readers, we’ve cleared away some of the high brush to give you a clearer path.

Joot’s compliance experts have completed nearly two dozen Form CRSs for our clients. Based on that experience, here are 10 things to keep in mind.

There are many aspects to compliance and from time to time, I like to bring in complementary experts to share their perspectives and knowledge. This week, I’m delighted to have Michael Williams from Clym (pronounced like “climb”) tell you more about data privacy on your website and an important new regulation from California that can affect any firm in the country. I hope you enjoy this post. After reading, please contact us or Michael if you think this could be an issue for your firm. – Bo Howell

by Michael Williams of Clym

Here we are, less than one month from the date when the California Attorney General can start enforcing the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Hopefully by now you know if your business must comply with the CCPA, if not, check out our blog post from January—Is it time to overhaul your privacy policy and notice? If your firm is subject to the CCPA and you are not prepared to comply with the law, don’t worry! Joot and Clym have you covered!

The words “SEC/FINRA exam” can trigger the jitters in most CCOs across the industry. They’re out to get me! Will they shut down my firm? Will I still have a job when they finish? Perhaps these thoughts and many others have crossed your mind when you got the dreaded phone call from your local SEC/FINRA office notifying you that you’ve been “selected” to go through an examination by their Staff.