Industry News

President Signs JOBS Act Into Law

April 9, 2012 | Steve Parker

The President signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) on April 5 during a Rose Garden signing ceremony. He called the bill a “game changer” that would remove barriers that prevent small businesses from growing and hiring. He stated that this bill was so important that he “called on Congress to remove a number of barriers that were preventing aspiring entrepreneurs from getting funding.” We have previously discussed the JOBS Act in JOBS Act Passes Both Chambers and Will be Sent to President and House of Representatives Pass Crowdfunding Bill for the Second Time in JOBS Act.

The purpose of the JOBS Act is to provide mechanisms for small businesses to raise capital more easily and efficiently, which proponents say would promote the creation of more jobs. The President stated “because of this bill, start-ups and small business will now have access to a big pool of potential investors – namely, the American people. For the first time, ordinary Americans will be able to go online and invest in entrepreneurs that they believe in.”
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IAA Becomes More Outspoken as SRO Bill Redraft Nears

March 26, 2012 | Steve Parker

The Investment Advisers Association (IAA) believes that it needs to become more outspoken and involved in order to deter Congress from passing legislation requiring a self-regulatory organization (SRO) be designated for registered investment advisers. The IAA is concerned because Congress is fully aware of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) position and its desire to become the SRO for investment advisers. IAA vice president for government relations Neil Simon stated, “Despite our best efforts, there is still a woeful ignorance of the role investment advisers play. They’re aware of FINRA. We need to help educate policymakers so they make informed decisions.”

Section 914 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act mandated that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prepare a report considering whether there should be an SRO for investment advisers, as there is for broker-dealers. The SEC set forth three possible models to help the agency better oversee advisers: (1) allow the SEC to charge user fees for exams, (2) establish a new SRO, or (3) allow FINRA to be the SRO for both registered investment advisers and broker-dealers. The IAA is supporting the user fee approach, while FINRA is aggressively pursuing becoming the designated SRO. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala) previously offered a bill which would provide for an SRO in response to the SEC’s recommendations, which were delivered to Congress in January 2011. Some industry observers believe that Rep. Bachus is likely to release a revised discussion draft of his bill and push it, because he will leave his post of Financial Services Chairman in January 2013 due to term limits.
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FINRA Significantly Increases Number of Sanctions in 2011

March 16, 2012 | Steve Parker

As a result of the financial crisis, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has significantly increased number of enforcement actions and the amount of sanctions imposed on broker-dealers in the previous year. According to Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP’s annual sanctions survey, the 13% increase in disciplinary actions resulted in increased fines of 51%.

FINRA filed 1,488 disciplinary actions in 2011, an increase from the 1,310 actions that it initiated in 2010. This made 2011 the third straight year in which the number of FINRA disciplinary actions has grown. The survey also found that the number of professionals barred by FINRA increased from 288 in 2010 to 329 in 2011.

Total fines jumped from $45 million in 2010 to $68 million in 2011, which is a 51% increase. The survey report stated, “While the $68 million reported in 2011 is still a far cry from the $184 million and $111 million that FINRA fined firms and representatives in 2005 and 2006, respectively, it may signal continued enforcement efforts for the near future.”
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CFTC Adopts Final Amendments to Commodity Pool Operators Exemption Rule

March 13, 2012 | Steve Parker

The Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) has adopted a final rule that makes several amendments to Regulation 4.5, which relates to commodity pool operators. The amendments add new limitations to an exclusion from the definition of a commodity pool operator (CPO) upon which registered investment companies have commonly relied. Currently, the rule excludes from the CPO definition entities that operate under other regulatory regimes, such as registered investment companies, banks, certain pension funds and insurance companies.

The amended regulations now impose two restrictions on registered investment companies that seek to use this exclusion. The first restriction is a trading threshold which would require an adviser to a registered investment company to either certify in a notice of eligibility filed with the NFT that it uses commodity futures, options or swaps only for “bona fide hedging purposes,” or, alternatively, that it meets one of the following two tests:

Five percent test: In relation to positions in commodity futures, commodity option contracts or swaps, the aggregate initial margin and premiums required to establish those positions will not exceed five percent of the liquidation value of its portfolio, after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses; or
Net notional value test: the aggregate net notional value of commodity futures, commodity option contracts or swap position not solely used for “bona fide hedging purposes,” determined at the time the most recent position was established, does not exceed 100 percent of the liquidation value of the registered investment company’s portfolio, after taking into account unrealized profits and unrealized losses. The net notional value is calculated as described in CFTC Regulation 4.13(a)(ii)(B)(1) and 4.13(a)(ii)(B)(2).

Industry Opposes Both SEC Proposals to Regulate Money Market Funds

February 24, 2012 | Steve Parker

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into two new proposals to stabilize money market funds. One of Chairman Mary Schapiro’s goals is to address the core structural weaknesses of the market. She stated, “Funds remain vulnerable to the reality that a single money market fund breaking of the buck could trigger a broad and destabilizing run.” The SEC is hoping to put both plans out for public comment, but it believes that it may adopt only one of the plans. If it chooses to adopt one, then the SEC will propose it before the end of March.

The SEC’s first proposal is to adopt a floating net asset value instead of the traditional $1 share price. This idea was also mentioned back in 2009; however it was not implemented. The second proposal would require funds to maintain a 1% capital cushion designed to absorb potential losses and to hold back at least 3% of client redemptions for 30 days.
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Obama’s New Proposed Budget Seeks Increased SEC Funding

February 22, 2012 | Steve Parker

The Obama administration released a proposed budget last week that will boost the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) budget for the next fiscal year. The SEC claims the need for an increased budget stems from the mandatory creation of 100 rules which is required by the Dodd-Frank Act and the need to hire new examiners to regulate the market more efficiently. The proposed budget would increase the SEC’s funding by 18.5 percent from $1.32 billion to $1.57 billion.

Prior to the release of the Obama administration budget, the SEC submitted a budget request which stated that the new budget would allow for 222 new examiners. That request estimated that in 2013 it will be responsible for examining 10,000 advisers with $44 trillion in assets under management. Currently, it only has 10 examiners per $1 trillion in assets under management, a decrease since 2005 when it had 19 examiners for every $1 trillion in assets under management. The SEC is capable of reviewing only eight percent of registered advisers each year. Investment advisers have also shown a preference to be regulated by the SEC as opposed to FINRA or another self regulatory authority (SRO), as we discussed in a previous blog, BCG Report Claims FINRA Cost Will Exceed SEC Cost as RIA SRO.
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The Economist Wants Your Kids Run Over In the Name of Laissez-Faire

February 19, 2012 | Steve Parker

In a hilariously naïve opinion piece called Over-regulated America, the February 18, 2012 edition of The Economist makes “a plea for simplicity” to replace what it characterizes as the U.S.’s overly regulated financial system. In place of Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, it proposes that regulations not contain specific rules but rather merely “lay down broad goals” and “leave the regulators to enforce them.”

This is the so-called “principles-based regulation” that they have in Europe – the envy of the world when it comes to banking. America should return to its European roots, The Economist is saying. After all, the U.S. is “the home of laissez-faire.” (You would think the editors could have sent a fact-checker through the Chunnel to the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne, but the point is not lost for the error). According to The Economist, there is nothing wrong with the American banking system that a big dose of European regulation won’t cure.

So instead of having a regulations manual that says, for instance, banks cannot engage in specified levels of leverage in proprietary trading, The Economist thinks it would be good enough to have a regulation that says to banks: “don’t put your capital at risk.” Although we tried that already, let’s humor (or humour) The Economist and pretend we haven’t. What would that be like?

New Registration Requirements for Non-U.S. Advisers

February 15, 2012 | Steve Parker

As a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed on July 21, 2010, there have been significant reforms applicable to non-US advisers conducting business in the United States, including new registration requirements under the Advisers Act (the “Act”).

Non-U.S. advisers may need to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to conduct future business within the United States. A non-U.S. adviser is defined in the Advisers Act as an investment adviser that:

Has no place of business in the United States;
Has a total of less than 15 U.S. clients and investors in private funds;
Has less than $25 million in assets under management associated with the U.S. clients and investors; and
Does not hold itself out generally as a U.S. investment adviser.

FINRA Wants Heightened Supervision of Complex Products

February 8, 2012 | Steve Parker

In a move that signals the need for heightened due diligence and supervision among financial advisory firms, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released Regulatory Notice 12-03 in relation to complex products last month. It is intended to guide firms to increase their supervision of activity involving complex products such as structured notes, reverse convertibles, inverse or leveraged exchange traded funds, hedge funds and securitized products. FINRA has already brought a number of enforcement actions against firms relating to complex products, charging inadequate supervision, unsuitable recommendations and misleading price sales.

Among the problems noted by FINRA is the uncertainty of how these products will behave in the market, as opposed to theoretical projections. The notice states, “Regulators have expressed concern about complex products because the intricacy of these products can impair the ability of registered representatives or their customers to understand how the product will perform in a variety of time periods and market environments, and can lead to inappropriate recommendations and sales.”

FINRA chose not to define a complex product in the notice due to the ever changing innovation in the marketplace; however, the notice states that “any product with multiple features that affect its investment returns differently under various scenarios is potentially complex.” The notice goes on to give a non-exhaustive list of examples of complex products. FINRA advises firms that are unsure whether a product is complex to err on the side of applying their procedures for enhanced oversight to the product.
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Breakaway Advisers See Financial Benefits

February 6, 2012 | Steve Parker

According to a survey conducted by Cogent Research and sponsored by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services (Fidelity), 76% of new independent financial advisers claim to be better off financially, and 64% of them were able to make that claim in the first six months of going independent. These numbers are based on a survey of 173 advisers who went independent in the last five years. They were unaware that Fidelity was sponsoring the research.

Eighty-six percent of the advisers claimed that all or most of their clients moved with them. It was reported that thirty-nine percent of their clients were immediately supportive of their decision, forty-three percent were initially surprised but then supportive, and eighteen percent were initially concerned but ultimately became supportive of the decision.
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