Regulatory Compliance E-newsletter – June 2017

Feature of the Month

NRS ComplianceGuardian DOL Module

Looking for some certainty within the tumultuous change surrounding the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule? NRS can help. 

Our new ComplianceGuardian DOL solution will provide the materials your firm needs to adapt your processes to meet the new regulations. Components include:

  • Policies and procedures
  • Model documents

As change happens, NRS experts will continue to monitor the rule and any best practices resulting from DOL interpretation and make any necessary changes to the model documents, the policies and procedures and tools so that you can be assured that you remain in compliance with any changes.

Register for a demo of the new solution today or call us at 860-435-0200.

As of June 9, broker-dealers, investments advisers, and other “retirement advisers” will be considered fiduciaries to IRAs and other retirement investors, and will be required to meet the Impartial Conduct Standards established by the Fiduciary Rule. These requirements will remain in force from June 9 to January 1 (the “Transition Period”), when all provisions of the Best Interest Contract Exemption become effective.

What does this mean?
Barring an unanticipated ruling in the courts, this means that as of June 9 broker-dealers will be fiduciaries to their Retirement Investor clients. Broker-dealer firms providing services to Retirement Investors can no longer delay their plans to implement the Impartial Conduct Standards. Even if those plans are not fully implemented on June 9, firms must be able to demonstrate that they are “working diligently and in good faith” to act as fiduciaries and to adhere to the Impartial Conduct Standards.

Our new ComplianceGuardian DOL Module will provide the materials your firm needs to adapt your processes to meet the new regulations.

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Education

Advisers Act Compliance Education Delivered in Chicago and Boston

When was the last time you looked at the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or one of its related Rule amendments? SEC examination deficiencies and enforcement actions reveal it has been less frequently than needed for some firms.

The NRS Investment Adviser Compliance Symposium gives compliance professionals an opportunity to dig into the Advisers Act and support the firm’s compliance program with updated knowledge and tools to minimize risk.

As Steve Jobs (Apple) shared, “There is always one more thing to learn.”

Attend in-person sessions on topics of current interest to exchange ideas with seasoned instructors and peers in an all-day forum for one or more days. Participate in lecture and discussion-based learning in an interactive classroom.

Given the current and future changes in the regulatory environment, each NRS Investment Adviser Symposium holds added significance. Through a deep dive into the Advisers Act and related Rules, compliance professionals get:

  • The facts – information and implications of new and existing regulations and regulatory examinations;
  • An exchange of ideas on how to maintain a robust compliance program to help keep the firm compliant;
  • Soft skills to help support implementation of an ethical compliance culture;
  • An electronic library of material;
  • A network of compliance professionals; and more

Whether you are eager to complete a portion of the education requirement of the NRS Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional® (IACCP®) or Core Compliance programs, want to sharpen your understanding of individual compliance topics, or want to earn continuing education credits, these in-person NRS Education events identify key industry requirements and best practices that effectively support compliance programs in the toughest regulatory environment.

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 updating and strengthening your firm’s compliance program. For more information please contact info@nrs-inc.com

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FIRE

Series 7 and 66 students can now customize their syllabus to fit their schedules.

The latest enhancement to our industry-leading FINRA Exam Prep training now allows Series 7 and 66 students to map every activity in these courses to a 6, 12, 16 or 20 week schedule.  Students can insure they are on track and on schedule by checking our new progress dashboard, which clearly shows weeks elapsed, activities completed, and tests taken.  Once selected, the syllabus can be printed or stored as a .pdf.

This new functionality, combined with our famous “No Pass, No Pay” guarantee insures your students will have the best chance to pass their exams on their first attempts.

For more info, contact info@nrs-inc.com.

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Consulting

How Will You Prove That Your Compliance Program Is Good Enough?

NRS Unveils New Partnership Service Designed to Do Just That.

No one is perfect. No firm is either. Yet, when it comes to an investment adviser’s compliance program, perfection is not the standard – reasonableness is. Most compliance professionals recognize that Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-7 (when read in conjunction with Rule 204A-1 and more than a decade of interpretive guidance) requires that SEC-registered investment advisers adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent, detect and correct violations of federal securities laws as well as the firm’s own policies. So, how can a firm prove that its compliance program is reasonable? How can it demonstrate that it is effective… that it is designed to prevent, detect and correct violations?

SEC staff have acknowledged that even a firm that has implemented a robust compliance program can still encounter issues. And because compliance issues can still arise, “…examiners expect to find exception reports, compliance checklists, and management reports that note problems and issues.”1 SEC examiners are keenly interested in whether a firm can demonstrate – through documented output resulting from regular, ongoing compliance testing, monitoring, and reviews – that it vigorously seeks out violations in order that it may correct them on a timely basis and prevent harm to clients.  With this goal in mind, and in recognition of the limited time and resources available to most CCOs, the experts at NRS have fashioned our most relevant and robust compliance support offering to date: NRS Compliance Partnership Services.

NRS Compliance Partnership Services bundles together several of NRS’ most popular services and technology offerings with regular, offsite compliance testing by its team of industry experts in key, high-risk areas.

Testing is conducted on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis and provides actionable, written “findings reports” to help your firm reveal compliance concerns early and to demonstrate your ongoing vigilance during your next regulatory examination. This comprehensive offering includes:

  • an assessment of risk;
  • on-demand compliance consulting services from an industry expert familiar with your firm and its policies;
  • an annual onsite, compliance program review pursuant to Rule 206(4)-7 requirements;
  • a year-long subscription to NRS’ ever-popular online compliance platform, ComplianceGuardian;
  • tailored, interactive compliance training for your entire staff;
  • and much, much more.

Elevate your game. Demonstrate your commitment to compliance and high industry standards. Meet regulatory expectations and improve your preparedness for your next examination. Contact NRS today for more information regarding NRS Compliance Partnership Services.

[1] SEC 2009 CCOutreach Regional Seminar materials available at https://www.sec.gov/info/iaiccco/iaiccco-focusareas.pdf.

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Technology

Outside Business Activities enhancements

NRS has recently released a significant improvement to the ComplianceMAX Outside Business Activities (OBA) product that will enable broker-dealers to manage OBA disclosures more efficiency and monitor data more accurately.  The newly improved product will deliver several new benefits, highlighted below.

  • Greater Control and Efficiency – manage, track and report on individual OBA’s, AND automate FINRA U4 amendment filings to Web CRD.
  • Quick Identification of Issues – data discrepancies between FINRA and NRS, if found, are sent daily to NRS Customer Support and Client Administrators.  Also, if there are any issues encountered when creating the consolidated OBA text block, an alert is immediately sent so corrective action can be taken.
  • Preventative measures and checks and balances to ensure that the right information is sent to FINRA.  A new feature enables you to preview the data before filing, and in the case of data discrepancies, compare the before and after, prior to approving the filing.

If you would like to know more about the release or the NRS’ ComplianceMAX OBA product, please contact NRS info@nrs-inc.com

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