Investment Adviser

Investment Adviser Charged with Misleading SEC Regarding Examination

November 12, 2015 | Steve Parker

In August of this year the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settled an administrative proceeding that related to statements an investment adviser made during the SEC’s on-site examination. The adviser at issue, Parallax Capital Partners, LLC, is a registered investment adviser that focuses primarily on mortgage-backed bonds and other similar fixed income securities. Parallax also advises a private fund in addition to providing advisory services to individuals and other entities. During an examination of Parallax that the SEC conducted in April 2011, the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer represented to the examination staff that he had performed and documented the annual compliance review required by Adviser’s Act Rule 206(4)-7 for the year 2010. The CCO further represented that the review and documentation had been conducted in February 2011, and provided the examination staff with a memorandum purportedly documenting the compliance review for 2010 that stated: “This memo documents that I have performed the review and reported significant compliance events and material compliance matters.”

The SEC examination staff was able to determine, by a review of the metadata attached to the compliance memorandum, that it had not been drafted in February 2011 as the CCO had represented, but instead that it had been created and completed in April 2011, just three days prior to the onsite examination and after Parallax received notice of the impending examination.
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State Investment Adviser and Securities Regulators Hold Annual Conference

October 6, 2015 | Steve Parker

Parker MacIntyre attorneys Steve Parker and Bryan Gort attended the 2015 annual conference of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) held last week in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As usual, the conference provided valuable guidance and updated information on areas of importance to state-registered investment advisers, as well as federal notice filed broker-dealers and SEC registered investment advisers.

Of interest to state-registered investment advisers are proposed amendments to Part 1B of Form ADV that would attempt to capture an RIA’s use of social media and information on the use of third-party compliance professionals.

NASAA also presented the findings of its 2015 coordinated investment adviser examination review, compiled from the results of over 1100 investment adviser examinations. Once again, books and records deficiencies was the leading category, with 78% of all examined entities having deficiencies in that area. Within that category the failure to maintain adequate client suitability data was the leading deficiency, accounting for 10% of the deficiencies noted within the books and record category.
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Texas Proposes Balance Sheet Requirement for Investment Advisers

September 24, 2015 | Steve Parker

The Texas State Securities Board has recently proposed amending Section 116.2 of the Texas Securities Regulations to add a new requirement that each investment adviser seeking to register under the Texas Securities Act submit to the Board a balance sheet prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles that reflects the current financial condition of the investment adviser.

One of the stated reasons for proposal of the rule is that, in the experience of the Securities Board, applicants have been having some difficulty in locating and completing the suggested balance sheet template contained on the Board’s website. The Board believed that providing an actual form and requiring its use will be more helpful to potential applicants and will make administrative of the requirement simpler for the Board itself.
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Investment Adviser Settles Charges of Failure to Disclose Conflicts of Interest

September 4, 2015 | Steve Parker

Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that registered investment adviser Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, LLC had consented to settle charges that it breached its fiduciary duty to its clients in connection with a $50 million loan made by a client to one of Guggenheim’s senior executives. Specifically, Guggenheim failed to disclose the existence of the loan and the conflicts of interests created by the loan, to its clients. Guggenheim agreed to pay a total of $20 million dollars to settle the charges.

According to the order instituting the administrative proceeding, the senior executive borrowed the funds from an advisory client so that he could make a personal investment in another corporation that was being acquired by Guggenheim’s parent company. The client who made the loan was one of several advisory clients of Guggenheim that invested, at Guggenheim’s recommendation, in two unrelated transactions. The client who made the loan, however, was permitted to invest in the unrelated transactions on different terms than the investors who had not made a loan to Guggenheim.
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SEC Enforcement Actions Against Corporate Officers – Targeting or Responsible Monitoring?

July 31, 2015 | Shay Virtue

In SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White’s opening statement to about 1,000 broker-dealer compliance officials at the Annual Broker-Dealer Compliance Outreach Program, she was clearly dismissing a growing sense that compliance professionals are being singled out by the SEC enforcement program, “To be clear, it is not our intention to use our enforcement program to target compliance professionals” she said, adding “We have tremendous respect for the work that you do. You have a tough job in a complex industry where the stakes are extremely high.” White also drew on the close similarities between the SEC and compliance officials, “Like you, much of our work at the Commission centers on protecting investors. We want to support you in your efforts and work together as a team.”

White’s statement came shortly after a public difference of opinion between commissioners Daniel Gallagher and Luis Aguilar. Gallagher, who issued dissents in the SEC’s cases against BlackRock Advisors in April and SFX Financial Advisory Investment Management in June, argued that the SEC rules governing compliance officials issued in 2003 are vague and leave too much uncertainty “as to the distinction between the role of CCOs and management in carrying out the compliance function.” In addition to the ambiguity in the rules, the only rule interpretations which have been provided by the SEC have come in the form of enforcement actions which Gallagher wrote “are undoubtedly sending a troubling message that CCOs should not take ownership of their firm’s compliance policies and procedures, lest they be held accountable for conduct that is the responsibility of the adviser itself.” Gallagher suggested that the SEC consider either amending the rules or providing commission-level guidance which would help clarify what is expected of compliance officers in their roles.
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Investment Adviser and Principals Sanctioned for Compliance Failures

July 9, 2015 | Shay Virtue

In a matter underscoring how important it is for investment advisers to dedicate sufficient resources and attention to their compliance program, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has sanctioned a firm for multiple compliance failures. On June 23, 2015 the SEC instituted cease-and-desist proceedings against Pekin Singer Strauss, a registered investment advisor firm boasting approximately $1.07 billion in AUM which primarily serves high-net-worth clients.

Among the violations cited, the order states that Pekin Singer failed to conduct timely annual compliance program reviews in 2009 and 2010 and failed to implement and enforce provisions of its policies and procedures and code of ethics during this same period. The firm has been ordered to pay a civil money penalty in the amount of $150,000.
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SEC Issues Guidance Update on Cybersecurity

May 29, 2015 | Steve Parker

Last month, the SEC division of Investment Management released Investment Management Guidance in which it discusses a number of measures that investment advisers may wish to consider when addressing cybersecurity risks. This guidance is just the last in a long list of guidance and alerts issued by the SEC and other regulators as to the need for financial firms to improve their policies and procedures dealing with cybersecurity threats.

Among the recommendations made in the current IM are that firms:

• Conduct a periodic assessment of the nature, sensitivity and location of information, what types of cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities exist, what security controls and processes are currently in place, the impact that would occur in the event of compromise of information, and the effectiveness of the current structure confirms current structure for managing cyber security risks

Questions Surround Impact Of Labor Department Fiducuary Rule for Financial Advisers

May 22, 2015 | Steve Parker

In the wake of the re-proposal by the U.S. Department of Labor of its so-called “Fiduciary Rule,” there are a number of questions regarding how the rule if adopted, will impact those providing financial advice to employee benefit plans and other retirement plans including IRAs and ERISA plans in general. The most obvious impact of the rule would be to bring those not currently fiduciaries, including registered representatives of securities broker-dealers and the broker-dealer firms themselves, into the realm of fiduciary advice providers. The higher standard of care that would apply necessarily implies a need for more thorough disclosures of potential conflicts of interest, including incentivized compensation such as commissions, 12b-1 fees and the like.
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LPL Financial Ordered by FINRA to Pay $11.7 Million

May 15, 2015 | Steve Parker

Earlier this month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it had fined LPL Financial (“LPL”) $10 million for lack of supervision in several areas of its operations, including sales of ETFs, variable annuities, REITs, and other complex products. In addition, FINRA found LPL failed to monitor trades and failed to report them to FINRA and failed to deliver more than $14 million in trade confirmations to customers. FINRA also ordered LPL to repay certain customers $1.7 million in restitution relating to the purchases of ETFs. Among FINRA’s findings were that the firm did not have a system that monitored how long customers were holding ETFs in their accounts, information that would be important in formulating advice as to whether the ETFs should have been purchased in the first place and how long the client should be recommended to hold the ETFs in their portfolios. Additionally, even though LPL had created policies limiting the concentration of ETFs in customer accounts, it failed to enforce the limits it had established and had not trained its registered representatives on the risks of those products.

With respect to variable annuities, FINRA found that in several instances, LPL had permitted said annuities to be sold without proper disclosure of surrender fees. Additionally, although LPL employed an automated surveillance system, that system failed to adequately review transactions commonly known as mutual fund “switches,” which involve a redemption of one mutual fund in order to purchase another.
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NASAA Unveils Electronic Filing Depository

January 26, 2015 | Chadd Reynolds

On December 15, 2014, the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) launched an online electronic filing system to be used for issuers filling Form D, Rule 506 offerings with state securities regulators. The purposes of this new electronic filing depository (“EFD”) website, according to NASAA president William Beatty, are to provide an efficient and streamlined process for regulatory filings and to allow for increased transparency for investors.

Issuers seeking an exemption under Rule 506 must meet certain requirements in order to avoid having to register their public or private offerings with the SEC or state regulators. However, those issuers must still file a notice of exempt offering of securities, or “Form D,” with the SEC and state securities regulators. Instead of the longer and more tedious process of registering with securities regulators, Form D requires only limited information about the issuer, the investors, and the securities offered.
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