Because last week was hot for re-regulation, I promised a summary of what I saw. So here goes ...
The Investor Protection Act of 2009 was proposed by Treasury in July, and will probably be voted out of the House Committee on Financial Services this week for a House floor vote later this fall. Some of the more rockstar aspects of this bill include:
Should advisers and broker-dealers owe the same fiduciary duty to investors? Currently, investment advisers must act in the best interests of the client; broker-dealers, on the other hand, are only legally required to provide a suitable product for investment. Keep in mind the distinction here: investment advisers offer financial advice to individuals or asset management to funds or corporations; broker-dealers actually trade shares to benefit their own accounts (whether as an agent for a client or as a principal on their own behalf).
The bill creates new SEC powers, in two ways. First, it amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to require mutual funds to disclose more information to investors. Second, the bill also creates an Investor Advisory Committee that represents investor interests within the SEC.
Also-also: there are whistle-blower provisions that offer protections and compensations; and investment advisory firms with assets of less than $100 million will forthwith be regulated by state securities agencies.
The Investor Protection Act of 2009 was proposed by Treasury in July, and will probably be voted out of the House Committee on Financial Services this week for a House floor vote later this fall. Some of the more rockstar aspects of this bill include:
Should advisers and broker-dealers owe the same fiduciary duty to investors? Currently, investment advisers must act in the best interests of the client; broker-dealers, on the other hand, are only legally required to provide a suitable product for investment. Keep in mind the distinction here: investment advisers offer financial advice to individuals or asset management to funds or corporations; broker-dealers actually trade shares to benefit their own accounts (whether as an agent for a client or as a principal on their own behalf).
The bill creates new SEC powers, in two ways. First, it amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to require mutual funds to disclose more information to investors. Second, the bill also creates an Investor Advisory Committee that represents investor interests within the SEC.
Also-also: there are whistle-blower provisions that offer protections and compensations; and investment advisory firms with assets of less than $100 million will forthwith be regulated by state securities agencies.
UPDATE (11.05.2009, 145p): The legislation was voted out of Committee yesterday (11/04) and is headed to the House floor for a vote. Controversial meat on that bone is the Garrett-Adler amendment that was successfully attached to the bill. The amendment permanently exempts small businesses from a requirement that outside auditors review a company's internal control and environment (as regards issues of accounting, fraud, and waste). Small business is defined as companies with a market value less than $75 million. This will exempt approximately half of all publicly-traded companies. Brief background: the outside auditor requirement exists as part of the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley ("SOX") regulation. Historically, smaller firms have been exempted from the auditor requirement due to cost concerns.
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