On May 20, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed changes to certain aspects of reporting and disclosure obligations of registered investment advisers and investment companies. In announcing the proposals, the SEC indicated that it is seeking to modernize information required to be reported by investment advisers and investment companies in an effort to enhance the SEC’s monitoring and regulation of the asset management industry along with the quality of and investors’ access to information.
The focus of these efforts will be the enhancement of data collection with a focus on information related to derivatives, securities lending activities, liquidity, pricing of portfolio instruments, and aspects of exchange-traded funds to help the SEC better assess risks of evolving activities and their potential impact on investors. SEC Chair White indicated that in addition to modernizing and enhancing data reporting, the SEC is also looking to require registered investment companies to have more robust controls in place to identify and manage risk in their portfolios. A brief summary of the proposals is included in this Client Alert and more detailed summaries of both the investment adviser and investment company proposal will follow in future Client Alerts.