RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc.转发了
Under the new leadership of Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently issued and settled a cease-and-desist order that serves as a stark reminder: the fiduciary duty to act in a client’s best interest remains the bedrock for an investment adviser. According to the SEC order, an investment adviser firm and one of its representatives allegedly failed to provide adequate fee disclosures when converting certain clients from brokerage accounts to investment advisory accounts. The SEC asserted that these newly converted advisory accounts were charged fees based on a percentage of assets under management, rather than brokerage commissions. Given that many of the converted accounts had relatively minimal trading activity, the shift purportedly led to higher overall costs for clients. According to the SEC, the clients allegedly did not receive additional services or benefits commensurate with this increase in costs. For more details and best practices that an investment adviser might consider, please see the link in the comments. While the order does not necessarily signal a change in the SEC’s enforcement approach, it underscores the fact that fundamental obligations – providing full disclosure of any conflicts of interest and only giving investment advice in the best interest of the client —still matter as much as ever, irrespective of who is at the helm. #RIACompliance #InvestmentAdvisers #InvestmentAdvisors #Fiduciary Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is general in nature intended for educational purposes only and is not a comprehensive analysis of this topic. This is merely a summary and does not necessarily include all material facts from the proceeding or order. The author has not verified the accuracy of the regulator’s press release or order and is not offering any opinion whether the allegations made by the securities regulator are accurate. This post is not intended to constitute compliance consulting advice or apply to any particular investment adviser firm’s specific situation. Please consult the applicable securities regulator’s order, rules, and published guidance for more details about the topics referenced above.