Blog

InvestorCOM’s webinars provide an excellent forum in which to learn about the latest regulatory requirements from industry experts. Our November 1 webinar, “DOL’s Fiduciary and Retrospective Review Expectations”, featured industry experts from DFPG Investments, Katten, Faegre Drinker and Oyster Consulting. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before the speakers could address every question from the […]

Since coming into force on June 30, 2020, broker-dealers have struggled to define and demonstrate how Reg BI’s Care Obligation assessment of reasonably available alternatives (RAA) is improving client outcomes. With a couple of years of data available, InvestorCOM conducted an analysis to understand if best interest can be measured, and more importantly if it […]

InvestorCOM recently chatted with David Porteous from Faegre Drinker, Mitchel C. Pahl from Katten, Craig Watanabe from DFPG Investments, and Ed Wegener from Oyster Consulting LLC to discuss the PTE 2020-02 retrospective review process, how to meet the retrospective review requirements, and how the DOL’s requirements correlate with the SEC’s expectations.  —  Parham Nasseri [PN]: […]

InvestorCOM recently chatted with Issa Hanna from Eversheds Sutherland, Tom Selman from Scopus Financial Group, Ben Westin from Regulus Financial Group, and Randy Barnes from InvestorCOM to discuss the Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) journey and the SEC’s strategic priorities.  == Parham Nasseri [PN]: Tom, as a former executive heading up regulatory policy at FINRA, […]

“Really digging in.” That was the phrase used by Ms. Nekia Hackworth Jones, Esq. at the recent SIFMA C&L Regional Seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina to categorize how the SEC is approaching their upcoming Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) examinations.  The implication is clear – examiners are going to go beyond the cursory review of […]

In a recent blog article, we presented an analysis of the magnitude and volume of significant changes to Canadian investment products over a 12-month period. While the data indicated that meeting the Client Focused Reforms (CFR) Know Your Product (KYP) obligations using a manual approach would be impossible, meeting the regulation is manageable provided the […]

Every business carefully monitors its insurance coverage and cost, which can be significant. Premiums vary based on insurance product, coverage and risk. I recently reviewed a couple of our insurance policies — for cyber-risk and life insurance — and the premiums were about 0.5% of policy coverage. Imagine if you could buy insurance that would […]

The Client Focused Reforms (CFRs) introduced a higher standard of conduct for wealth management firms and financial advisors, with the goal of putting “investors first.” The regulations explicitly outline a set of enhanced Know-Your-Product (KYP) standards, requiring firms to assess, approve and monitor the securities made available to clients. To help support InvestorCOM’s wealth management […]

InvestorCOM spoke with David Porteous, Partner at Faegre Drinker and Mitchell Atkins, Principal at FirstMark Regulatory Solutions to discuss the SEC’s and FINRA’s perspectives on the recent Reg BI cases.   Parham Nasseri [PN]: With all the rhetoric we’ve seen in recent cases, specifically on the Reg BI front, what do you see as the […]