Regulatory Compliance E-newsletter – August 2016

Feature of the Month

NRS 31st Spring Conference Highlighted in Compliance Reporter

More than 150 chief compliance officers, regulators, attorneys and consultants piled into Miami’s Eden Roc Resort from May 10-12 for the National Regulatory Services annual spring compliance conference. The attendees were greeted with a full plate of workshops on issues ranging from cyber security to coping with examinations, and heard from CCOs and regulators about concerns such as liquidity management and protecting senior investors. Senior Reporter Peter Rawlings was on hand to cover the event for Compliance Reporter.  Read the full article here.

Experience for yourself what was reported by Peter Rawlings from Compliance Reporter and attend an NRS Education event in-person.  NRS Education has been providing education for more than 30 years and has been a provider of practical continuing education – as documented by NRS’s ability to maintain continual approval from several CE agencies for meeting continuing education criteria – since 1994. NRS Education events are designed to meet criteria for continuing education credits for attorneys, CPA/accountants, certified financial planners, compliance professionals, and other financial securities professionals. Earn CLE, CPE, CFP® and IACCP® credits while developing and updating the firm’s compliance program.

View the NRS Education Calendar and note the new onsite events, which can give you the opportunity to gain foundational knowledge and keep you ahead of the curve on examinations, cybersecurity, ethics, ERISA, advertising, AML and more:

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Technology

Simplify Your Annual Review Process

Believe it or not, summer is almost over — and now is the perfect time to make sure your firm’s Policies and Procedures are up-to-date and to start working on your Annual Review. The integrated compliance task list in NRS ComplianceGuardianTM provides a simple way to assign tasks and to track their completion.

Start with a customized policies and procedures manual that is automatically linked to a compliance task list that you can assign to individuals or groups within the firm. View this in a checklist or calendar format and set up email reminders with one click. The manual content is written and updated by NRS consultants to ensure that your firm meets current regulatory requirements. NRS’s Smart Update technology protects your custom content by not allowing it to be overwritten unless you so choose.

Use the integrated Annual Review Tool for investment advisers to assist in the annual review process. Document the review, create workflows for taking corrective actions and automatically generate the annual review report. For broker-dealers, use the model documents and in particular the ‘Annual CEO Certification Language’ document as a guide for completing the annual review.

Learn more about the one tool that manages the annual review process by registering for a demo today.

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Education

Differentiate Yourself and Your Firm by Earning the NRS IACCP® Designation

In 2016 many investment adviser compliance professionals are including education in their plans as a way to both help advance their careers and stay-up-to-date on the current regulatory and compliance requirements and initiatives. Often, a standard reaction of compliance professionals is taking a course when a new rule is proposed or finalized. (Such recent regulatory activity includes the DOL’s New Fiduciary Rule, Anti-Money Laundering for Investment Advisers, Adviser Business Continuity and Transition Plans, and Amendments to Form ADV and Investment Advisers Act Rules.)  While this reaction fills an important need, the industry is demanding a more structured and comprehensive approach to investment adviser compliance education.

Earning an investment adviser compliance designation can help you and your firm. The NRS Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional®(IACCP®) Program, co-sponsored with the Investment Adviser Association (IAA), is a professional education program granting the designation, Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCP), to individuals who complete an online and/or in-person instructor-led program of study, pass a certifying examination and meet its work experience, ethics and continuing education requirements.

The NRS IACCP program:

  • Provides participants and their firms with a solid understanding of current regulations and rules required for investment advisers
  • Provides resources to help strengthen the firm’s compliance program and promote continuous learning within the firm
  • Encourages candidates to apply what they learn as they learn it
  • Signals recognition of advanced compliance knowledge and skill level to help differentiate you from other compliance professionals
  • Allows firms that educate compliance personnel to add another cost- and time-effective risk management tool
  • Demonstrates the firm’s commitment to an educated workforce and a strong culture of compliance
  • Helps advance compliance as a profession
  • Supports the community of compliance professionals

Earning the IACCP designation helps identify you as a committed compliance leader and demonstrates your firm’s commitment to compliance.

For those who want to take the first step toward advancing their investment adviser compliance education with a less intensive curriculum, the NRS Investment Adviser Core Compliance Program provides a foundation with focus on the first level of compliance courses. By completing 10 courses and submitting an Ethics assessment, compliance professionals can earn a Certificate of Achievement, which can then be applied for credit in the future toward the IACCP Program requirements. Review the Core Program requirements.

Earn a specialized credential focused on the role of the investment adviser compliance professional and the knowledge needed to strengthen the compliance function.

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Consulting

Experience the Benefits of Working with an NRS Consultant for Advertising Review!

Marketing is an essential function supporting a firm’s core business objectives.  Yet, ensuring that advertising and marketing pieces comply with applicable regulations and prevailing interpretations can be a difficult and time consuming challenge. In fact, advertising compliance is a perennial risk area for many investment advisers and the area often results in SEC examination deficiencies. Moreover, failing to adhere to regulatory requirements can lead to substantial fines and reputational damage. In a recent action claiming that an adviser had compiled and marketed misleading, back-tested performance, the firm settled with the SEC by agreeing to disgorge $30 million and to pay a $5 million civil monetary penalty.  Other advisers that had relied on the misleading performance prepared by the third-party adviser, and included it in their own marketing materials, were similarly censured – with one such firm agreeing to a disgorgement and civil monetary penalty judgment totaling more than $15 million.

Our experienced NRS Consultants employ a streamlined review process to provide a comprehensive advertising review and can also assist firms in improving the quality and efficiency of their internal review processes and marketing communications.  Through this service, an NRS Consultant can review pitch books, tear sheets, client presentations, correspondence, websites, performance data, RFP responses, and any other advertising materials that require a trained eye.  Our Consultants can make recommendations for appropriate disclosures designed to ensure that your advertising material is compliant with SEC and/or state regulatory requirements.

Our goal is to provide our clients with a full service solution to their advertising review needs by navigating them through this complex area and offering suggestions designed to ensure compliance and protect the firm’s good name.

If you would like to make sure your firm is up for existing and yet to come challenges, please contact us today.

 

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