According to the Daily Montanan, a class-action lawsuit has been filed against the State of Montana. This lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a licensing fee structure imposed on non-resident investment adviser representatives and securities salespersons, alleging it violates the privileges and immunities clause of the United States Constitution.
The Texas Securities Commissioner recently entered into a consent order with an investment adviser representative (also referred to as an “IAR”) related to his performance fee arrangement and trading practices.
The North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) recently published a new handbook to guide investment adviser firms and other professionals that are interested in becoming content providers under NASAA’s Model Rule on Investment Adviser Representative Continuing Education (“Model Rule”). The handbook is the most recent resource published by NASAA as it works to implement the compliance and logistical framework needed to facilitate the Model Rule. To view NASAA’s Investment Adviser Representative Continuing Education Program Handbook, click here.
In light of the new investment adviser representative (“IAR”) licensing requirement of the State of New York, RIA Compliance Consultants has updated its sample compliance manual section for investment adviser representative licensing in New York.
The State of New York recently announced a special exam waiver window on the Central Registration Depository (“CRD”) system, which will affect existing investment adviser representatives (“IARs”) seeking registration in New York via an exam waiver (in lieu of taking and passing the Series 65 or Series 66 & 7 examinations). IAR applicants requesting an exam waiver should apply between February 27, 2021 and August 31, 2021 in order to avoid opening an unnecessary exam window on the CRD system and being charged an examination fee. Between Feb. 27, 2021 and August 31, 2021, FINRA will temporarily modify the CRD system for NY only RA registration requests to allow the applicants who qualify for an exam waiver to avoid opening a window.
In December 2020, the New York Attorney General’s Investor Protection Bureau (IPB) adopted proposed rule changes to 13 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 11. These rule changes require the registration of investment adviser representatives – including principals, supervisors and solicitors for registered investment advisers – through the WebCRD/IARD system beginning February 1, 2021. Prior to the rule change, New York was the only state that did not license investment adviser representatives via the WebCRD/IARD system. Click here to read the final adopted rule.
As investment adviser firms start to receive loan proceeds through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), which is a loan program that originated from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, many investment adviser firms have asked whether the forgivable nature of the PPP loan will constitute a compromise with a creditor for purposes of Item 14K of the Form U4 of an investment adviser representative who is a control person.
RIA Compliance Consultants added a new Sample Form to our Sample Forms Library. Our new Non-Access Person Acknowledgement Form is for investment advisers to document employees who are “non-access persons.” According the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an investment adviser’s “access persons” are, “any of the investment adviser’s supervised persons who have access to non-public information regarding any investment advisory client’s purchase or sale of securities, or nonpublic information regarding the portfolio holdings of any reportable fund or any person who is involved in making securities recommendations to investment advisory clients, or who has access to such recommendations that are nonpublic.”
As of yesterday, Monday, November 16, 2015, your investment adviser firm can access, via its Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) account, its Preliminary Renewal Statement for the upcoming year. Investment advisor firms are assessed individual registration fees based on the state(s) that the firm is notice filed or registered in and the number of investment advisor representatives and their approved registration statuses. The amount reflected in the Preliminary Renewal Statement is the amount of renewal fees investment advisors must pay in order to maintain active registration for the firm and its investment adviser representatives.
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced that the Investment Adviser Registration Depository System (IARD), the national database sponsored by NASAA and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that provides investment adviser firms and their investment adviser representatives a single source for filing state and SEC investment adviser registration and notice filings, will waive the IARD system processing fees for state registered investment adviser firms in 2016. While waiving IARD system processing fees for state registered investment adviser firms in 2016, NASAA will continue charging a $10 IARD system processing fee for each investment adviser representative (IAR).
