Navigating Business Continuity Plans post COVID-19:  Five Issues Independent Directors Need to Consider

Jun 18, 2020 10:45:00 AM

By: Peg McLaughlin Foreword by Dina Tantra: We're excited to feature our guest blogger, Peg McLaughlin, who brings to the table a regulatory and governance perspective which is additive to the deep dive we provide on the compliance side.  Peg has vast experience advising independent board members, working inside the asset manager and previously serving as a regulator.  In her post, Peg highlights ...
 

Business Continuity Planning: a Real-World Test

Mar 23, 2020 5:20:55 PM

Ever since the SEC and other regulatory bodies (i.e., FINRA) identified the possibility of “significant business disruptions” many years ago and mandated that registrants create, maintain, and test a Business Continuity Plan (“BCP”), these plans have rarely been taken very seriously until they are needed. A story has circulated over the years that an independent broker-dealer in Garland, Texas nam...
 

SEC Provides Conditional Relief to Investment Advisers and Investment Companies Impacted By Coronavirus – But Should You Use It?

Mar 18, 2020 12:15:00 PM

On March 13, 2020, the SEC announced regulatory relief for investment advisers and investment companies who may be affected by the coronavirus.  The SEC is recognizing that limits on travel, reduced personnel and other business disruptions as a result of the coronavirus may cause delays in meeting regulatory filing deadlines and other regulatory obligations. While this is welcome news given the ex...
 

Diversity & Inclusion: Steps Forward in the Asset Management Industry

Dec 12, 2019 11:40:00 AM

Foreword by Bo Howell (July 2020) Ever since my service in the U.S. Navy nearly two decades ago and continuing through my time in both the federal government and private companies, I’ve experienced the benefit of serving on a diverse team that bonds together to achieve a common goal. As a father in a multi-racial family, I want to serve as a role model for my sons, my community, our industry, and ...
 

Corporate Governance Update: How Delaware law interacts with federal securities law

Oct 4, 2018 8:00:56 AM

For many asset managers and investment companies, the topic of compliance tends to focus on federal securities, particularly Rule 206(4)-7 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the "Advisers Act) and Rule 38a-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Company Act"). While these rules and the SEC's guidance related to them are important, state law also plays a vital role in compliance. D...

CCO Tech Announces First Ever Compliance Automation Solution for Registered Investment Advisers

Oct 1, 2018 10:30:38 AM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cincinnati, OH (October 1, 2018) - CCO Tech today announces the release of its SEC Filing Manager, the first module of an integrated web-based compliance system for small- and mid-sized registered investment advisers (RIAs). SEC Filing Manager automates the completion of Form ADV, the starting point for regulatory compliance filing for every SEC-registered investment adviser....

GDPR in a Nutshell and the Titan Platform*

Sep 21, 2018 8:30:07 AM

* The information in this article is provided for informational purposes only.  No information should be construed as legal advice from Advanced Alternative Investment Systems or the Titan Technology Group, Ltd. or the individual author nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel. Introduction General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) falls under the European Union’s data privacy and...
 

Introduction to the Titan Platform – The New Kid on the Block

Sep 7, 2018 9:15:40 AM

An Interview with Principal Michelle Morgan What do you do when you’ve been looking for software for your fund administration company but can’t find anything that does everything you want?  If you’re Michelle Morgan and Peter McKiernan, Canadian chartered accountants with 25 years industry experience each, you build your own. The business partners are proud to introduce Titan, an all-in-one, cloud...
 

The BIG Reveal: Welcome to the Future of Compliance

Aug 24, 2018 10:00:41 AM

Last week I talked about changing a critical part of our industry to level the playing field for all asset managers. I was talking about compliance. For years now, there's been increasing development in fintech, but it's focused mostly on investing, trading, and business development applications. As these activities have become increasingly automated, a gap has developed between business operation...

The Liquidity Rule Finally Takes Shape!

Jul 13, 2018 8:54:29 AM

In May, we discussed eight things that you needed to know about the liquidity rule in this article. At that time, we noted that part of the rule was due to take effect in December 2018 for large fund families or June 2019 for smaller fund families. The parts that were delayed until 2019 included the liquidity classifications (i.e., the buckets) and the highly liquid minimum requirement.  More impo...
 

Did AI just result in 13 settlements?

Jul 6, 2018 7:30:55 AM

At the beginning of June, the SEC announced settlements against 13 private fund advisers[1] for failing to provide the required information in Form PF.[2] Generally, Form PF requires information on private funds managed by investment advisers if the total assets of the private funds are over $150 million. The form, which became effective in 2012, asks for information on a private fund’s assets und...
 

Is 2008 about to repeat?

Jun 1, 2018 8:30:46 AM

Dear Readers, I hope you know that we at IM Cincy are not the type of people that are full of doom and gloom. Nor do we ever intend to cause you stress or panic by our posts. But we are avid readers of The Economist, and we couldn't help but notice two articles in the May 5-11, 2018 publication of that newspaper that paint a less than rosy picture of our current economic situation. Together, these...

IM Director's Recent Remarks on Standards of Conduct & Liquidity Risk Management

May 25, 2018 8:30:21 AM

IM Director's Recent Remarks on Standards of Conduct & Liquidity Risk Management by Peter Michael Allen   Recently, Dalia Blass, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management (IM) commented about the standards of conduct for investment professionals and liquidity risk management for open-end funds, including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Given that the SEC recently submi...

SEC Decides it's Time to Help Investors Understand the Difference between Brokers and Advisers

Apr 21, 2018 8:31:27 AM

The SEC has finally proposed a rule that will help clarify the distinction between brokers that refer to themselves as "financial advisors" and investment advisers. (We won't get into why it took so long or how this is a response to the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, which was recently vacated by federal courts.) Most investors are unaware of the difference and the legal standards that appl...

Artificial Intelligence at Service Providers

Apr 19, 2018 2:00:54 AM

In Part 1 of our discussion of the use of artificial intelligence in the investment management industry, we discussed how the SEC is getting big data as its first step to developing AI systems. In this second post of our three-part series, we discuss how AI systems are being used by service providers and the impact of those systems on asset managers. Our next post will discuss how asset managers a...

Artificial Intelligence at the SEC

Apr 16, 2018 2:00:12 AM

For years now, the concept of “Big Data” has been wildly popular in the business world. It seemed that everyone who was anyone was using big data to improve performance, boost revenue, and break into new markets. For true technology innovators, big data was the first step to something bigger: artificial intelligence. Machines need enormous amounts of data to develop artificial intelligence. AI dev...

Liquidity is Out, ETFs are In

Apr 7, 2018 4:43:26 PM

The SEC’s stance on its not-yet-effective liquidity rule appears fluid, as commissioners push to abandon part of the rule and certain division heads move on to other topics. At the 2018 ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management conference, Commissioner Hester Peirce and division director Dalia Blass signaled the possible end of the liquidity rule as an emphasis of the SEC. Commissioner Hester not...

Starting a Compliance Program

Apr 1, 2018 10:14:33 PM

In January 2018, The SEC’s Fort Worth regional office held a teleconference that summarized the SEC’s 2017 exam findings and its focus areas for 2018. The staff noted that some of the common weaknesses in compliance programs for investment advisers include: Failure to tailor written policies and procedures to the adviser’s business (i.e., generic compliance manuals). Failure to manage or disclose ...

The SEC is Nervous About Options

Mar 19, 2018 10:52:54 PM

Why is the SEC nervous? On February 23, 2018, Commissioner Kara M. Stein gave a speech at SEC Speaks in Washington, DC. During the speech, Commissioner Stein raised broad ethical and economic considerations regarding the rapid advances in financial product innovation, which appears to be accelerating as financial firms increasingly use technology to expand their product line and deepen their reach...