RIA Compliance and Practice Management Blog

A key element of the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") Rule 204A-1 or the "Code of Ethics Rule", relates to personal securities trading by requiring all access persons of a registered investment adviser ("RIA") firm to submit securities holdings and transaction reports to the firm's Chief Compliance Officer ("CCO") or other designated person(s). To simplify the submission and approval process of transaction reports, the MyRIACompliance^® Employee Trade Monitoring software automatically records, monitors, and consolidates employee personal securities transactions. The cloud-based software eliminates the need to request and review paper brokerage statements by allowing the advisory firm's Chief Compliance Officer to automatically monitor employee transactions and holdings for both remote and in-office work forces. 

Recent personal securities trade monitoring enhancements include new features such as the ability to automatically "match" employee trade requests with executed employee securities transactions, the ability to automatically "flag" potential employee front running securities transactions, and the ability for employees to report private securities holdings such as investments in private companies.

Each week we’re giving you our weekly report highlighting the top compliance news articles from various industry news publications. We have selected the most relevant and important news articles related to registered investment adviser ("RIA") compliance and regulatory issues. This week's recap focuses on the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") plan to move forward with the Form CRS (ADV Part 3) deadline, advice on how to RIAs can handle the coronavirus disruption, and the incoming surge of Covid-19 cybersecurity threats.

One of our company's longstanding commitments is investing time and resources to make the RIA in a Box MyRIACompliance^® platform the industry leading compliance technology offering for registered investment adviser ("RIA") firms. We put the client first by delivering innovative software and expert advice. Since 2005 we take pride in partnering with our clients to establish and support the highest quality registered investment adviser firms in the country.  At RIA in a Box, we release new MyRIACompliance^® software features and enhancements on a daily basis to meet the growing compliance challenges that investment advisers continue to confront. 

As registered investment adviser ("RIA") firms transition to alternative workplace options in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s important for RIA firms to be cautious of the overwhelming amount of email phishing attacks surfacing which exploit public fears about the virus and also attempt to take advantage of employees working from home. Presently, all businesses, and investment advisers in particular, are being targeted by a wide variety of email phishing attacks.

Each week we’re giving you our weekly report highlighting the top compliance news articles from various industry news publications. We have selected the most relevant and important news articles related to registered investment adviser ("RIA") compliance and regulatory issues. This week's recap focuses on the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") COVID-19 ("coronavirus") relief, increased cybersecurity risks, and compliance challenges related to remote work. 

During this time more than ever, registered investment advisors ("RIA") firms are being required to test their business continuity plans ("BCP") to see if they hold up not only for a one or two day disruption but for potentially months on end. In dealing with a global pandemic, advisors need not only address how their advisory business is being disrupted but also by extension how their clients, personnel, and suppliers/vendors are being impacted. 

In the registered investment adviser ("RIA") community, COVID-19 has raised more than public health concerns. With the number of states issuing stay-at-home orders to help slow the spread of coronoavirus, many investment advisory firms have shifted to a work from home model. Cloud-based software provides the ability to continue running a business in the event of an emergency by allowing access to critical company systems from any location, but working remote also creates a new set of considerations around issues like cybersecurity. With the switch to remote work, many RIA firms have seen a significant increase in attempted cyber criminal activity. 

Each week we’re giving you our weekly report highlighting the top compliance news articles from various industry news publications. We have selected the most relevant and important news articles related to registered investment adviser ("RIA") compliance and regulatory issues. This week's recap focuses on the growing cybersecurity threats amid the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, the Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") postponing Form ADV submissions, and the importance of succession planning.

Increased safety precautions and guidelines around COVID-19 have catalyzed the adoption of remote conferencing and other cloud-based software for registered investment adviser ("RIA") firms to continue managing business operations from remote locations. As this may be a dramatic shift for many firms, ineffective use of videoconferencing and other cloud-based software may lead to operational challenges, employee disengagement, and decreased levels of productivity. To help RIA firms maintain connectivity during extended remote work periods, we are sharing how RIA in a Box uses Zoom, Slack, and LastPass to successfully stay connected company-wide with our entire team now working remotely. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that registered investment advisers ("RIAs") and exempt reporting advisers ("ERAs") impacted by the COVID-19 coronavirus with a traditional December fiscal year end date will have until May 14, 2020 (45 days after the original due date) to file Form ADV amendments, including the important annual updating amendment. The normal deadline for firms with a December fiscal year end to file the annual updating amendment is March 30, 2020.