Category Archives: Investment Advisor

Solicitors for Registered Investment Advisory Firms

A common question for investment advisory firms is how they can pay persons for referring them separately managed account clients. For SEC-registered investment advisors, any such fee would need to be paid pursuant to the requirements of Rule 206(4)-3 – the rule regarding cash payments for client solicitations.

Rule 206(4)-3 defines the term “solicitor” broadly to include any person who, directly or indirectly, solicits any client for, or refers any client to, an investment adviser. The rule also requires that fees paid to solicitors pursuant to the following guidelines:

– the solicitor is not disqualified by the rule;
– there is a written agreement between the solicitor and the IA firm;
– the solicitor provides the client with a statement which details certain parts of the arrangement; and
– the client signs an acknowledgment of the relationship

The above bullet points are generally what is required and if you have questions on your specific situation you should discuss with your attorney or compliance person. I have also posted the complete rule below. Additional information was provided by the SEC at the time of the rule’s release which can be found here: Investment Advisers Act Release No. 688. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Rule 206(4)-3 – Cash Payments for Client Solicitations

(a) It shall be unlawful for any investment adviser required to be registered pursuant to section 203 of the Act to pay a cash fee, directly or indirectly, to a solicitor with respect to solicitation activities unless:

(1)

(i)The investment adviser is registered under the Act;

(ii) The solicitor is not a person (A) subject to a Commission order issued under section 203(f) of the Act, or (B) convicted within the previous ten years of any felony or misdemeanor involving conduct described in section 203(e)(2)(A) through (D) of the Act, or (C) who has been found by the Commission to have engaged, or has been convicted of engaging, in any of the conduct specified in paragraphs (1), (5) or (6) of section 203(e) of the Act, or (D) is subject to an order, judgment or decree described in section 203(e)(4) of the Act; and

(iii) Such cash fee is paid pursuant to a written agreement to which the adviser is a party; and

(2) Such cash fee is paid to a solicitor:

(i) With respect to solicitation activities for the provision of impersonal advisory services only; or

(ii) Who is (A) a partner, officer, director or employee of such investment adviser or (B) a partner, officer, director or employee of a person which controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with such investment adviser: Provided, That the status of such solicitor as a partner, officer, director or employee of such investment adviser or other person, and any affiliation between the investment adviser and such other person, is disclosed to the client at the time of the solicitation or referral; or

(iii) Other than a solicitor specified in paragraph (a)(2) (i) or (ii) of this section if all of the following conditions are met:

(A) The written agreement required by paragraph (a)(1)(iii) of this section: (1) Describes the solicitation activities to be engaged in by the solicitor on behalf of the investment adviser and the compensation to be received therefor; (2) contains an undertaking by the solicitor to perform his duties under the agreement in a manner consistent with the instructions of the investment adviser and the provisions of the Act and the rules thereunder; (3) requires that the solicitor, at the time of any solicitation activities for which compensation is paid or to be paid by the investment adviser, provide the client with a current copy of the investment adviser’s written disclosure statement required by Rule 204-3 (“brochure rule”) and a separate written disclosure document described in paragraph (b) of this rule.

(B) The investment adviser receives from the client, prior to, or at the time of, entering into any written or oral investment advisory contract with such client, a signed and dated acknowledgment of receipt of the investment adviser’s written disclosure statement and the solicitor’s written disclosure document.

(C) The investment adviser makes a bona fide effort to ascertain whether the solicitor has complied with the agreement, and has a reasonable basis for believing that the solicitor has so complied.

(b) The separate written disclosure document required to be furnished by the solicitor to the client pursuant to this section shall contain the following information:

(1) The name of the solicitor;

(2) The name of the investment adviser;

(3) The nature of the relationship, including any affiliation, between the solicitor and the investment adviser;

(4) A statement that the solicitor will be compensated for his solicitation services by the investment adviser;

(5) The terms of such compensation arrangement, including a description of the compensation paid or to be paid to the solicitor; and

(6) The amount, if any, for the cost of obtaining his account the client will be charged in addition to the advisory fee, and the differential, if any, among clients with respect to the amount or level of advisory fees charged by the investment adviser if such differential is attributable to the existence of any arrangement pursuant to which the investment adviser has agreed to compensate the solicitor for soliciting clients for, or referring clients to, the investment adviser.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to relieve any person of any fiduciary or other obligation to which such person may be subject under any law.

(d) For purposes of this section,

(1) Solicitor means any person who, directly or indirectly, solicits any client for, or refers any client to, an investment adviser.

(2) Client includes any prospective client.

(3) Impersonal advisory services means investment advisory services provided solely by means of (i) written materials or oral statements which do not purport to meet the objectives or needs of the specific client, (ii) statistical information containing no expressions of opinions as to the investment merits of particular securities, or (iii) any combination of the foregoing services.

Overview of Investment Advisers Act of 1940

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One of the most important set of the federal securities laws which relate to hedge fund managers is the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Investment Advisers Act). The Investment Advisers Act provides the manner in which investment advisers will register with the SEC, provides the laws that must be followed as an investment advisor, and makes it illegal for both registered and unregistered investment advisors to act fraudulently toward any investors.

If a hedge fund manager is registered as an investment advisor with the SEC then the manager should make sure he understands all parts of the Investment Advisers Act. Below I’ve highlighted and discussed those provisions which are most important to a hedge fund manager. The entire act can be found here: Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Definition of Investment Adviser

The term investment adviser is very broad. Section 202(a)(11) provides:

“Investment adviser” means any person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities, or who, for compensation and as part of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities;

but does not include

(A) a bank, or any bank holding company as defined in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, which is not an investment company, except that the term “investment adviser” includes any bank or bank holding company to the extent that such bank or bank holding company serves or acts as an investment adviser to a registered investment company, but if, in the case of a bank, such services or actions are performed through a separately identifiable department or division, the department or division, and not the bank itself, shall be deemed to be the investment adviser;

(B) any lawyer, accountant, engineer, or teacher whose performance of such services is solely incidental to the practice of his profession;

(C) any broker or dealer whose performance of such services is solely incidental to the conduct of his business as a broker or dealer and who receives no special compensation therefore;

(D) the publisher of any bona fide newspaper, news magazine or business or financial publication of general and regular circulation;

(E) any person whose advice, analyses, or reports relate to no securities other than securities which are direct obligations of or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by the United States, or securities issued or guaranteed by corporations in which the United States has a direct or indirect interest which shall have been designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, pursuant to section 3(a)(12) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as exempted securities for the purposes of that Act; or

(F) such other persons not within the intent of this paragraph, as the Commission may designate by rules and regulations or order.

Pre-requiste for Registration

Only those managers which manage at least $25 million in assets are eligible to register with the SEC. If a manager has less than $25 million of assets under management, then the manager will be subject only to the registration with the managers state of residence (if required). Specifically Section 203A(a)(1)(A) provides:

No investment adviser that is regulated or required to be regulated as an investment adviser in the State in which it maintains its principal office and place of business shall register under section 203, unless the investment adviser – has assets under management of not less than $ 25,000,000, or such higher amount as the Commission may, by rule, deem appropriate in accordance with the purposes of this title; …

Investment Adviser Registration Requirement

In general, all investment advisors must register with the SEC pursuant to Section 203(a).

Except as provided in subsection (b) and section 203A, it shall be unlawful for any investment adviser, unless registered under this section, to make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce in connection with his or its business as an investment adviser.

Exemption from registration

While the definition of investment adviser is sufficiently broad to include most all hedge fund managers, there is a widely used exemption from the registration provisions. Section 203(b)(3) provides:

The provisions of subsection (a) [the registration provisions noted above] shall not apply to … any investment adviser who during the course of the preceding twelve months has had fewer than fifteen clients and who neither holds himself out generally to the public as an investment adviser nor acts as an investment adviser to any investment company registered under title I of this Act, or a company which has elected to be a business development company pursuant to section 54 of title I of this Act and has not withdrawn its election. For purposes of determining the number of clients of an investment adviser under this paragraph, no shareholder, partner, or beneficial owner of a business development company, as defined in this title, shall be deemed to be a client of such investment adviser unless such person is a client of such investment adviser separate and apart from his status as a shareholder, partner, or beneficial owner;

There are two important items to note here. First, the investment adviser cannot have more than 15 clients over a 12 month rolling period. A hedge fund counts as a single client for these purposes. Second, the investment adviser

Prohibited Transactions

The act has very strong anti-fraud provisions. Most SEC actions against investment advisers will be based on this section of the act. Section 206, in full, provides:

It shall be unlawful for any investment adviser, by use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or indirectly –

(1) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud any client or prospective client;

(2) to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client;

(3) acting as principal for his own account, knowingly to sell any security to or purchase any security from a client, or acting as broker for a person other than such client, knowingly to effect any sale or purchase of any security for the account of such client, without disclosing to such client in writing before the completion of such transaction the capacity in which he is acting and obtaining the consent of the client to such transaction. The prohibitions of this paragraph (3) shall not apply to any transaction with a customer of a broker or dealer if such broker or dealer is not acting as an investment adviser in relation to such transaction;

(4) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which is fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative. The Commission shall, for the purposes of this paragraph (4) by rules and regulations define, and prescribe means reasonably designed to prevent, such acts, practices, and courses of business as are fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative.

Other Important Sections

There are other important sections to the act which include the following:

Section 204 – Record Keeping Requirements

Section 205 – Investment Advisory Contracts

Section 222 – State Regulation of Investment Advisers

SEC Wins another Hedge Fund Fraud Case – Provides Insight to Hedge Fund Managers

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Hedge fund fraud cases are important because they give some definition and life to the various investment advisor and hedge fund laws. Much of the advice that hedge fund lawyers give to their clients is based on reasonableness and best guesses on how the securities laws will be implemented in the hedge fund context. For many hedge fund issues there are not clear cut cases which give color to the securities laws. One of my colleagues refers to this as the “square peg – round hole” dilemma by which he means it is hard to apply the archaic securities laws with the current state of the hedge fund and investment management industry.

When the SEC does bring cases, as practitioners we get to see how the SEC views the securities rules and how we should be advising clients. While many of the fraud cases represent completely unbelievable actions by unscrupulous people, there are still lessons which well-intentioned managers can learn from.

Specifically this case gives us an opportunity to examine five separate areas which invesment managers should be aware of:

1. Make sure all statements in the hedge fund offering documents and collateral marketing materials is are accurate.

In this case the hedge fund offering documents contained many material misstatements including materially false and misleading statements in offering materials and newsletters about, among other things, the Funds’ holdings, performances, values and management backgrounds. For example the complaint alledges:

Specifically, both PPMs represented that most investments made by Partners and Offshore would trade on “listed exchanges.” In truth, a majority of those funds’ investments were and are on unlisted exchanges such as the OTCBB or pink sheets. Furthermore, the Partners’ PPM stated that investors would receive yearly audited financials upon request. Partners has not obtained audited financials since the year ended 2000 and repeatedly refused at least one investor’s requests for audited financials for the year ended 2001.

2. Make sure all appropriate disclosure relating to personnel are made.

Hedge fund attorneys will usually spend time with the manager discussing the employees of the management company and their backgrounds. During this time the attorney will ask the manager, among other questions, whether any person who is part of the management company has been involved in any securities related offense. In this case there were two specific items which the manager should have disclosed in the offering documents and other collateral material:

Failed to disclose that a “consultant” to the management company was enjoined, fined and also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years for his fraudulent conduct involving, among other things, misallocating to himself securities while serving as CFO and later president of a publicly traded company.

Failed to discloase a member of the fund’s board of directors was barred from associating with any broker or dealer for 9 years.

3. Take care when going outside stated valuation policies.

Many hedge fund documents have stated valuation policies but then allow the manager to modify the valuation, in the manager’s discretion, to better reflect the true value of the securities. However, when a manager uses this discretion, the manager should have a basis for the valuation. Such valuation should not be based on an artificially inflated value of the asset. To be safe managers should probably have some internal valuation policies which should be in line with generally accepted valuation standards for such assets. I found the following paragraph from the SEC’s complaint particularly interesting (emphasis added):

II. Bogus Valuations

34. In order to obtain at least year end 2001 audited financials for Offshore, Lancer Management provided Offshore’s auditor with appraisals valuing certain of that fund’s holdings. These appraisals mirrored or closely approximated the values assigned to Offshore’s holdings by Defendants based on the manipulated closing prices at month end. These valuation reports were, however, fatally flawed and did not reflect the true values of Offshore’s holdings under the generally accepted Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice or American Society of Appraisers Business Valuation Standards. For example, the valuations were improperly based on unreliable market prices of thinly traded securities; unjustified prices of private transactions in thinly traded securities; unfounded, baseless and unrealistic projections; hypotheticals; and/or an averaging of various factors. Indeed, under accepted standards of valuing businesses, certain of the Funds’ holdings were and/or are essentially worthless.

4. Do not engage in market manipulation.

Many of the securities in which this hedge fund invested were traded on the OTCBB. The fund engaged in trading in these securities near valuation periods in order to artificially inflate the price of these very thinly traded securities. Additionally, the complaint alleges many incidents of “marking the close.” This goes without saying but a hedge fund manager should not engage in market manipulation.

5. Always produce accurate portfolio statements. Do not overstate earnings. Always make sure that statements to investors are accurate.

Enough said.

While many of the examples above are so egregious they probably do not need to be listed on a “do not” list, you should make sure you do not engage in any of these activities. Additionally, if you do make some error or mistake (for example, if a valuation turns out to be incorrect or inaccurate), immediately contact your attorney to create a plan to inform investors about the incorrect or inaccurate statements. A mistake can generally be cured, all out fraud cannot.

I have posted a full text version of the SEC’s case, SEC v. Lauer. I have included the statement by the SEC below which can be found here.

—————–

SEC Wins Major Hedge Fund Fraud Case Against Michael Lauer, Head of Lancer Management Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2008-225

Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 2008—The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that a district court judge today granted its motion for summary judgment against the architect of a massive billion-dollar hedge fund fraud.

Michael Lauer of Greenwich, Conn., was found liable for violating the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. In a 67-page order, The Honorable Kenneth A. Marra, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, found that Lauer’s fraud as head of two Connecticut-based companies – Lancer Management Group and Lancer Management Group II – that managed investors’ money and acted as hedge fund advisers was “egregious, pervasive, premeditated and resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in investors’ funds.”

Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said, “This case highlights the SEC’s ongoing efforts to combat hedge fund fraud and our dedicated work on behalf of investors to ensure that hedge fund managers are held accountable for any unlawful conduct.”
David Nelson, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office, added, “We are particularly gratified at this decision, which resulted from several years of hard work to protect investors, starting when we successfully halted the fraud while it was still ongoing.”

Lauer raised more than $1.1 billion from investors and his fraudulent actions caused investor losses of approximately $500 million. The SEC initially won emergency temporary restraining orders and asset freezes against Lauer and his companies, which were placed under the control of a Court-appointed receiver after the SEC filed its enforcement action in 2003.

During the protracted litigation, the SEC successfully stopped Lauer from diverting or hiding millions of dollars of assets from the Court’s asset freeze.

The summary judgment order found that Lauer:

Materially overstated the hedge funds’ valuations for the years 1999 to 2002.
Manipulated the prices of seven securities that were a material portion of the funds’ portfolios from November 1999 through at least April 2003.
Failed to provide any basis to substantiate or explain the exorbitant valuations of the shell corporations that saturated the funds’ portfolios.
Hid or lied to investors about the Funds’ actual holdings by providing them with fake portfolio statements.
Falsely represented the funds’ holdings in newsletters.

The judge’s order entered a permanent injunction against Lauer against future violations of Sections 17(a)(1)-(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), and Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act). The order reserved ruling on the SEC’s claim for disgorgement with prejudgment interest against Lauer, and on the amount of a financial penalty Lauer must pay. The SEC is seeking a financial penalty and disgorgement of the more than $50 million Lauer received in ill-gotten gains from his fraudulent scheme.

SEC brings fraud charges against investment advisor in connection with hedge fund investments

Investment Advisor faces fine and injuction for unauthorized leverage

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As a hedge fund lawyer one of my most important jobs is to help keep the client out of any trouble and to help the manager deal with any potential issues before they become issues.

Below is a classic example of an investment manager who did not adequately describe his investment program (and the risks). One of the more important parts of the hedge fund start up process is to create an investment program which accurately describes the trading which the fund will engage in. While many offering documents include very broad language allowing a manager to make changes to the investment program, gross or wholesale changes should be communicated to the investor (potentially with the right to redeem the interests, depending on the hedge fund’s terms and structure). The highlighted language below emphasizes the point that descriptions of a hedge fund’s investment program should be accurate, as well as the point that hedge fund managers should never lie or intentionally mislead their clients.

The full release can be found here.

Release:

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20713 / September 11, 2008
SEC v. Mark D. Lay and MDL Capital Management, Inc., Civil Action No. 08-CV-1269 (DSC) (W.D. Pa.)
SEC Charges Mark D. Lay and MDL Capital Management, Inc. With Defrauding Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that today it filed securities fraud charges in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Mark D. Lay of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and MDL Capital Management, Inc. (“MDL Capital”), an investment adviser registered with the Commission and located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lay was the Chairman, CEO and Chief Investment Strategist of MDL Capital and part-owner of MDL Capital. Without admitting or denying the allegations of the Complaint, Lay and MDL Capital have consented to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining them from engaging in the violations set forth below, and ordering other relief

The Commission’s Complaint alleges that, between February 2004 and November 2004, Lay and MDL Capital defrauded their advisory client, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, in connection with the Bureau’s investment of public money in the MDL Active Duration Fund, Ltd., a hedge fund affiliated with and managed by Lay and MDL Capital. The Bureau transferred approximately $200 million from its advisory account managed by MDL Capital and Lay to the hedge fund pursuant to an agreement that those assets would be conservatively leveraged.

The Complaint further alleges that MDL Capital and Lay exposed Bureau funds to unauthorized and undisclosed risk by substantially exceeding a 150% leverage guideline, at one point using leverage of over 21,000% in the hedge fund. As a result, the Bureau incurred losses of approximately $160 million. During the course of the fraud, Lay repeatedly lied to and misled the Bureau as to the reasons for and amount of the losses as well as the excessive leverage Lay was using.

In October 2007, based on these same facts, Lay was convicted in the Northern District of Ohio of criminal mail fraud, wire fraud and investment adviser fraud. Lay is currently serving a 12 year prison sentence.

The Complaint alleges that Lay and MDL Capital violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Subject to the Court’s approval, the final judgment imposes permanent injunctions against MDL Capital and Lay and orders them to pay $1,544,195 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, but waives payment of these amounts, and does not impose civil penalties, based on the defendants’ sworn statements of financial condition.

SEC Charges Investment Adviser with Cherry-Picking

Important compliance information for registered investment advisors

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Many registered investment advisors are happy once a registration has gone through. The individual, or firm, has gone through all of the following:

Receiving entitlement to the IARD system
Passing the Series 65 exam (tips on the series 65 exam)
Completing both the investment advisory firm’s Form ADV and Form ADV Part II (the investment advisor brochure)
Filing Form ADV through the IARD system
Notice filing in the state of the firm’s principal place of business

Once a firm has become registered as an investment advisor with the SEC, however, the important work is not over. The firm and the principals of the firm must make sure that all of the investment advisor rules are followed. Below is an overview of the laws a SEC registered investment advisor must follow; it was prepared by the SEC and serves as a good guide for the newly registered investment advisor. In addition to the following guide for newly registered investment advisors, it is also recommended that you thoroughly review your investment advisor compliance manual with your lawyer or your compliance professional.
Full article can be found here.

For the presentation below, I have changed the SEC’s spelling of “investment adviser” to “investment advisor” as appropriate. Which begs the question: What is the difference between an “investment adviser” and an “investment advisor”?

There is no difference between the term “investment adviser” and “investment advisor” despite the incongruent spellings. The term “investment advisor” is most commonly used within the securities industry, however the SEC uses spelling “investment adviser”. It is likely that the reason the SEC uses this spelling is because the laws passed by congress specifically use the term.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding any of the items below. We will try to answer all questions in another blog post. Also, we can provide you with help if you need assistance with an SEC mock examination and help with your compliance manual or code of ethics.

Information for Newly-Registered Investment Advisors

Prepared by the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management and Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations

This information sheet contains general information about certain provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (also called the “Advisers Act”) and selected rules under the Advisers Act. It is intended to assist newly-registered investment advisors in understanding their compliance obligations with respect to these provisions. This information sheet also provides information about the resources available to investment advisors from the SEC to help advisers understand and comply with these laws and rules.

As an adviser registered with the SEC, you have an obligation to comply with all of the applicable provisions of the Advisers Act and the rules that have been adopted by the SEC. This information sheet does not provide a complete description of all of the obligations of SEC-registered advisers under the law. To access the Advisers Act and rules and other information, visit the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov (the Advisers Act and rules are available at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment.shtml).

Investment advisors Are Fiduciaries

As an investment advisor, you are a “fiduciary” to your advisory clients. This means that you have a fundamental obligation to act in the best interests of your clients and to provide investment advice in your clients’ best interests. You owe your clients a duty of undivided loyalty and utmost good faith. You should not engage in any activity in conflict with the interest of any client, and you should take steps reasonably necessary to fulfill your obligations. You must employ reasonable care to avoid misleading clients and you must provide full and fair disclosure of all material facts to your clients and prospective clients. Generally, facts are “material” if a reasonable investor would consider them to be important. You must eliminate, or at least disclose, all conflicts of interest that might incline you — consciously or unconsciously — to render advice that is not disinterested. If you do not avoid a conflict of interest that could impact the impartiality of your advice, you must make full and frank disclosure of the conflict. You cannot use your clients’ assets for your own benefit or the benefit of other clients, at least without client consent. Departure from this fiduciary standard may constitute “fraud” upon your clients (under Section 206 of the Advisers Act).

Investment Advisors Must Have Compliance Programs

As a registered investment advisor, you are required to adopt and implement written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent violations of the Advisers Act. The Commission has said that it expects that these policies and procedures would be designed to prevent, detect, and correct violations of the Advisers Act. You must review those policies and procedures at least annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation, and designate a chief compliance officer (“CCO”) to be responsible for administering your policies and procedures (under the “Compliance Rule” — Rule 206(4)-7).

We note that your policies and procedures are not required to contain specific elements. Rather, you should analyze your individual operations and identify conflicts and other compliance factors that create risks for your firm and then design policies and procedures that address those risks. The Commission has stated that it expects your policies and procedures, at a minimum, to address the following issues to the extent that they are relevant to your business:

Portfolio management processes, including allocation of investment opportunities among clients and consistency of portfolios with clients’ investment objectives, your disclosures to clients, and applicable regulatory restrictions;
The accuracy of disclosures made to investors, clients, and regulators, including account statements and advertisements;
Proprietary trading by you and the personal trading activities of your supervised persons;
Safeguarding of client assets from conversion or inappropriate use by your personnel;
The accurate creation of required records and their maintenance in a manner that secures them from unauthorized alteration or use and protects them from untimely destruction;
Safeguards for the privacy protection of client records and information;
Trading practices, including procedures by which you satisfy your best execution obligation, use client brokerage to obtain research and other services (referred to as “soft dollar arrangements”), and allocate aggregated trades among clients;
Marketing advisory services, including the use of solicitors;
Processes to value client holdings and assess fees based on those valuations; and
Business continuity plans.

Investment Advisers Are Required to Prepare Certain Reports and to File Certain Reports with the SEC

As a registered investment advisor, you are required to file an annual update of Part 1A of your registration form (Form ADV) through the Investment Advisers Registration Depository (IARD). You must file an annual updating amendment to your Form ADV within 90 days after the end of your fiscal year. In addition to making annual filings, you must promptly file an amendment to your Form ADV whenever certain information contained in your Form ADV becomes inaccurate (the Form ADV filing requirements are contained in Rule 204-1 of the Advisers Act, and in the instructions to the Form).

Make sure your Form ADV is complete and current. Inaccurate, misleading, or omitted Form ADV disclosure is the most frequently cited finding from our examinations of investment advisors.
Please keep the e-mail address of your contact person current (Form ADV, Part 1A, Item 1J). We use this e-mail address to keep you apprised of important developments (including when it’s time to file an amendment to your Form ADV).
Accurately report the amount of assets that you have under management (Form ADV, Part 1A, Item 5F(2)). Advisers who have less than $25 million of assets under management, who are not otherwise eligible to maintain their registration with the SEC, or who stop doing business as an investment advisor, should file a Form ADV-W through IARD to withdraw their registration.

With respect to Part II of your Form ADV, you are not required to file it through IARD at this time. Rather, it is considered to be ‘filed’ with the SEC when you update the form and place a copy in your files. As with Part 1A, you must update Part II annually within 90 days of the end of your fiscal year and whenever it becomes materially inaccurate.

You may also be subject to other reporting obligations. For example, an adviser that exercises investment discretion (or that shares investment discretion with others) over certain equity securities (including convertible debt and options), which have a fair market value in the aggregate of $100 million or more, must file a Form 13F each quarter that discloses these holdings. “Discretionary authority” means that you have the authority to decide which securities to purchase, sell, and/or retain for your clients.

You should also be aware that it is unlawful to make any untrue statement or omit any material facts in an application or a report filed with the SEC (under Section 207 of the Advisers Act), including in Form ADV and Form ADV-W.

Investment Advisors Must Provide Clients and Prospective Clients with a Written Disclosure Statement

Registered investment advisors are required to provide their advisory clients and prospective clients with a written disclosure document (these requirements, and a few exceptions, are set forth in Rule 204-3 under the Advisers Act). As a registered adviser, you may comply with this requirement either by providing advisory clients and prospective clients with Part II of your Form ADV or with another document that contains, at a minimum, the information that is required to be disclosed in Form ADV, Part II. This written disclosure document should be delivered to your prospective clients at least 48 hours before entering into an advisory contract or, if it is delivered at the time the client enters into the contract, the client should be given five business days after entering into the advisory contract to terminate the contract without penalty (under certain conditions, you may comply with the delivery requirements through electronic media).

Each year, you must also deliver or offer (in writing) to deliver a disclosure document to each client, without charge. You are required to maintain a copy of each disclosure document and each amendment or revision to it that was given or sent to clients or prospective clients, along with a record reflecting the dates on which such disclosure was given or offered to be given to any client or prospective client who subsequently became a client (under Rule 204-2(a)(14)).

Investment Advisors Must Have a Code of Ethics Governing Their Employees and Enforce Certain Insider Trading Procedures

As a registered investment advisor, you are required to adopt a code of ethics (under the “Code of Ethics Rule” — Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act). Your code of ethics should set forth the standards of business conduct expected of your “supervised persons” (i.e., your employees, officers, directors and other people that you are required to supervise), and it must address personal securities trading by these people.
We note that you are not required to adopt a particular standard of business ethics. Rather, the standard that you choose should reflect your fiduciary obligations to your advisory clients and the fiduciary obligations of the people you supervise, and require compliance with the federal securities laws. In adopting a code of ethics, investment advisors may set higher ethical standards than the requirements under the law.
In order to prevent unlawful trading and promote ethical conduct by advisory employees, advisers’ codes of ethics should include certain provisions relating to personal securities trading by advisory personnel. Your code of ethics must include the following requirements:

Your “access persons” must report their personal securities transactions to your CCO or to another designated person each quarter. “Access persons” are any of your supervised persons who have access to non-public information regarding client transactions or holdings, make securities recommendations to clients or have access to such recommendations, and, for most advisers, all officers, directors and partners.
Your access persons must submit a complete report of the securities that they hold at the time they first become an access person, and then at least once each year after that.3 Your code of ethics must also require that your access persons obtain your approval prior to investing in initial public offerings or private placements or other limited offerings, including pooled investment vehicles (except if your firm has only one access person).
Your CCO or another person you designate in addition to your CCO must review these personal securities transaction reports.
Your supervised persons must promptly report violations of your code of ethics (i.e., including the federal securities laws) to the CCO or to another person you designate (provided your CCO also receives a report on such issues). You must also maintain a record of these breaches.

Also, as a registered investment advisor, you are required to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material non-public information (under Section 204A of the Advisers Act). These policies and procedures must encompass your activities and those of your supervised persons. Advisers often include this prohibition on insider trading in their code of ethics.

Provide each of the people that you supervise with a copy of your code of ethics (and any amendments that you subsequently make to it), and also obtain a written acknowledgement from the supervised person that he/she has received it. In addition, you must describe your code of ethics in your Form ADV, Part II, Item 9 and provide a copy to your advisory clients, if they request it.

Investment Advisors are Required to Maintain Certain Books and Records

As a registered adviser, you must make and keep true, accurate and current certain books and records relating to your investment advisory business (under “the Books and Records Rule” — Rule 204-2). The books and records that you must make and keep are quite specific, and are described below in part:

Advisory business financial and accounting records, including: cash receipts and disbursements journals; income and expense account ledgers; checkbooks; bank account statements; advisory business bills; and financial statements.
Records that pertain to providing investment advice and transactions in client accounts with respect to such advice, including: orders to trade in client accounts (referred to as “order memoranda”); trade confirmation statements received from broker-dealers; documentation of proxy vote decisions; written requests for withdrawals or documentation of deposits received from clients; and written correspondence you sent to or received from clients or potential clients discussing your recommendations or suggestions.
Records that document your authority to conduct business in client accounts, including: a list of accounts in which you have discretionary authority; documentation granting you discretionary authority; and written agreements with clients, such as advisory contracts.
Advertising and performance records, including: newsletters; articles; and computational worksheets demonstrating performance returns.
Records related to the Code of Ethics Rule, including those addressing personal securities transaction reporting by access persons.
Records regarding the maintenance and delivery of your written disclosure document and disclosure documents provided by certain solicitors who seek clients on your behalf.
Policies and procedures adopted and implemented under the Compliance Rule, including any documentation prepared in the course of your annual review.

Some advisers are required to maintain additional records. For example, advisers that have custody and possession of clients’ funds and/or securities must make and keep additional records that are described in the Books and Records Rule (Rule 204-2, paragraph (b)), and advisers who provide investment supervisory or management services to any client must also make and keep specific additional records (which are described in Rule 204-2, paragraph (c)).

You must keep these records for specified periods of time. Generally, most books and records must be kept for five years from the last day of the fiscal year in which the last entry was made on the document or the document was disseminated. You may be required to keep certain records for longer periods, such as records that support performance calculations used in advertisements (as described in Rule 204-2, paragraph (e)).

You are required to keep your records in an easily accessible location. In addition, for the first two of these years, you must keep your records in your office(s). If you maintain some of your original books and records somewhere other than your principal office and place of business, you must note this practice and identify the alternative location on your Form ADV (in Section 1K of Schedule D). Many advisers store duplicate copies of their advisory records in a location separate from their principal office in order to ensure the continuity of their business in the case of a disaster.

You may store your original books and records by using either micrographic media or electronic media. These media generally include microfilm or digital formats (e.g., electronic text, digital images, proprietary and off-the-shelf software, and email). If you use email or instant messaging to make and keep the records that are required under the Advisers Act, you should keep the email, including all attachments that are required records, as examiners may request a copy of the complete record. In dealing with electronic records, you must also take precautions to ensure that they are secure from unauthorized access and theft or unintended destruction (similar safeguarding provisions regarding client information obtained by you is required by Regulation S-P under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act). In general, you should be able to promptly (generally within 24 hours) produce required electronic records that may be requested by the SEC staff, including email. In order to do so, the Advisers Act requires that you arrange and index required electronic records in a way that permits easy location, access, and retrieval of any particular electronic record.

Investment Advisors Must Seek to Obtain the Best Price and Execution for Their Clients’ Securities Transactions

As a fiduciary, you are required to act in the best interests of your advisory clients, and to seek to obtain the best price and execution for their securities transactions. The term “best execution” means seeking the best price for a security in the marketplace as well as ensuring that, in executing client transactions, clients do not incur unnecessary brokerage costs and charges. You are not obligated to get the lowest possible commission cost, but rather, you should determine whether the transaction represents the best qualitative execution for your clients. In addition, whenever trading may create a conflicting interest between you and your clients, you have an obligation, before engaging in the activity, to obtain the informed consent from your clients after providing full and fair disclosure of all material facts. The Commission has described the requirement for advisers to seek best execution in various situations.

In selecting a broker-dealer, you should consider the full range and quality of the services offered by the broker-dealer, including the value of the research provided, the execution capability, the commission rate charged, the broker-dealer’s financial responsibility, and its responsiveness to you. To seek to ensure that you are obtaining the best execution for your clients’ securities trades, you must periodically evaluate the execution performance of the broker-dealers you use to execute clients’ transactions.

You may determine that it is reasonable for your clients to pay commission rates that are higher than the lowest commission rate available in order to obtain certain products or services from a broker-dealer (i.e., soft dollar arrangement). To qualify for a “safe harbor” from possible charges that you have breached your fiduciary duty by causing your clients to pay more than the lowest commission rate, you must use clients’ brokerage commissions to pay for certain defined “brokerage or research” products and services, use such products and services in making investment decisions, make a good faith determination that the commissions that clients will pay are reasonable in relation to the value of the products and services received, and disclose these arrangements.

The SEC staff has stated that, in directing orders for the purchase or sale of securities, you may aggregate or “bunch” orders on behalf of two or more client accounts, so long as the bunching is done for the purpose of achieving best execution, and no client is systematically advantaged or disadvantaged by the bunching. The SEC staff has also said that, if you decide not to aggregate orders for client accounts, you should disclose to your clients that you will not aggregate and the potential consequences of not aggregating orders.

If your clients impose limitations on how you will execute securities transactions on their behalf, such as by directing you to exclusively use a specific broker-dealer to execute their securities transactions, you have an obligation to fully disclose the effects of these limitations to the client. For example, if you negotiate volume commission discounts on bunched orders, a client that has directed you to use a specific broker should be informed that he/she will forego any benefit from savings on execution costs that you might obtain for your other clients through this practice.

You should also seek to obtain the best price and execution when you enter into transactions for clients on a “principal” or “agency cross” basis. If you have acted as a principal for your own account by buying securities from, or selling securities to, a client, you must disclose the arrangement and the conflicts of interest in this practice (in writing) and also obtain the client’s consent for each transaction prior to the time that the trade settles. There are also explicit conditions under which you may cross your advisory clients’ transactions in securities with securities transactions of others on an agency basis (under Rule 206(3)-2). For example, you must obtain advance written authorization from the client to execute such transactions, and also provide clients with specific written disclosures. Compliance with Rule 206(3)-2 is generally not required for transactions internally crossed or effected between two or more clients you advise and for which you receive no additional compensation (i.e., commissions or transaction-based compensation); however, full disclosure regarding this practice should be made to your clients.

Requirements for Investment Advisors’ Contracts with Clients

As a registered investment advisor, your contracts with your advisory clients must include some specific provisions (which are set forth in Section 205 of the Advisers Act). Your advisory contracts (whether oral or written) must convey that the advisory services that you provide to the client may not be assigned by you to any other person without the prior consent of the client. With limited exceptions, contracts cannot include provisions providing for your compensation to be based on the performance of the client’s account. In addition, the SEC staff has stated that an adviser should not enter into contracts with clients, except with certain sophisticated clients, that contain terms or clauses commonly referred to as a “hedge clause” because such clauses or provisions are likely to lead other clients to believe that they have waived their rights of legal action, whether under the federal securities laws or common law.

Investment Advisors May be Examined by the SEC Staff

As a registered investment advisor, your books and records are subject to compliance examinations by the SEC staff (under Section 204 of the Advisers Act). The purpose of SEC examinations is to protect investors by determining whether registered firms are complying with the law, adhering to the disclosures that they have provided to their clients, and maintaining appropriate compliance programs to ensure compliance with the law. If you are examined, you are required to provide examiners with access to all requested advisory records that you maintain (under certain conditions, documents may remain private under the attorney-client privilege).

More information about examinations by the SEC and the examination process is provided in the brochure, “Examination Information for Broker-Dealers, Transfer Agents, Clearing Agencies, Investment Advisers and Investment Companies,” which is available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/info/cco/ccons2006exambrochure.pdf.

Requirements for Investment Advisors that Vote Proxies of Clients’ Securities

As a registered investment advisor, if you have voting authority over proxies for clients’ securities, you must adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that you: vote proxies in the best interests of clients; disclose information to clients about those policies and procedures; and describe to clients how they may obtain information about how you have voted their proxies (these requirements are in Rule 206(4)-6 under the Advisers Act).

If you vote proxies on behalf of your clients, you must also retain certain records. You must keep: your proxy voting policies and procedures; the proxy statements you received regarding your client’s securities (the Rule provides some alternative arrangements); records of the votes you cast on behalf of your clients; records of client requests for proxy voting information; and any documents that you prepared that were material to making a decision as to how to vote or that memorialized the basis for your decision (these requirements are described in Advisers Act Rule 204-2(c)(2)).

Requirements for Investment Advisors that Advertise their Services

To protect investors, the SEC prohibits certain types of advertising practices by advisers. An “advertisement” includes any communication addressed to more than one person that offers any investment advisory service with regard to securities (under “the Advertising Rule” — Rule 206(4)-1). An advertisement could include both a written publication (such as a website, newsletter or marketing brochure) as well as oral communications (such as an announcement made on radio or television).

Advertising must not be false or misleading and must not contain any untrue statement of a material fact. Advertising, like all statements made to advisory clients and prospective clients, is subject to the general prohibition on fraud (Section 206 as well as other anti-fraud provisions under the federal securities laws). Specifically prohibited are: testimonials; the use of past specific recommendations that were profitable, unless the adviser includes a list of all recommendations made during the past year; a representation that any graph, chart, or formula can in and of itself be used to determine which securities to buy or sell; and advertisements stating that any report, analysis, or service is free, unless it really is free.

The SEC staff has said that, if you advertise your past investment performance record, you should disclose all material facts necessary to avoid any unwarranted inference. For example, SEC staff has indicated that it may view performance data to be misleading if it:

does not disclose prominently that the results portrayed relate only to a select group of the adviser’s clients, the basis on which the selection was made, and the effect of this practice on the results portrayed, if material;
does not disclose the effect of material market or economic conditions on the results portrayed (e.g., an advertisement stating that the accounts of the adviser’s clients appreciated in value 25% without disclosing that the market generally appreciated 40% during the same period);
does not reflect the deduction of advisory fees, brokerage or other commissions, and any other expenses that accounts would have or actually paid;
does not disclose whether and to what extent the results portrayed reflect the reinvestment of dividends and other earnings;
suggests or makes claims about the potential for profit without also disclosing the possibility of loss;
compares model or actual results to an index without disclosing all material facts relevant to the comparison (e.g., an advertisement that compares model results to an index without disclosing that the volatility of the index is materially different from that of the model portfolio); and
does not disclose any material conditions, objectives, or investment strategies used to obtain the results portrayed (e.g., the model portfolio contains equity stocks that are managed with a view towards capital appreciation).

In addition, as a registered adviser, you may not imply that the SEC or another agency has sponsored, recommended or approved you, based upon your registration (under Section 208 of the Advisers Act). You should not use the term “registered investment advisor” unless you are registered, and you should not use this term to imply that as a registered adviser, you have a level of professional competence, education or special training. For example, the SEC staff has stated that advisers should not use the term “RIA” after a person’s name because using initials after a name usually indicates a degree or a licensed professional position for which there are certain qualifications; however, there are no federal qualifications for becoming an SEC-registered adviser.

Requirements for Investment Advisors that Pay Others to Solicit New Clients

Registered investment advisors may pay cash compensation to others to seek out new clients on their behalf, commonly called “solicitors” or “finders,” if they meet certain conditions (under Rule 206(4)-3 of the Advisers Act):

The solicitor is not subject to certain disciplinary actions.
The fee is paid pursuant to a written agreement to which you are a party and (with limited exceptions) the agreement must: describe the solicitor’s activities and compensation arrangement; require that the solicitor perform the duties you assign and in compliance with the Advisers Act; require the solicitor to provide clients with a current copy of your disclosure document; and, if seeking clients for personalized advisory services, require the solicitor to provide clients with a separate written disclosure document containing specific information.
You receive from the solicited client, prior to or at the time you enter into an agreement, a signed and dated notice confirming that he/she was provided with your disclosure document and, if required, the solicitor’s disclosure document.
You have a reasonable basis for believing that the solicitor has complied with the terms of your agreement.

Requirements for Investment Advisors that have Custody or Possession of Clients’ Funds or Securities

Registered investment advisors that have “custody” or “possession” of client assets must take specific measures to protect client assets from loss or theft (under “the Custody Rule” — Rule 206(4)-2(c)(1) under the Advisers Act).

The first step is to determine whether you have custody or possession of client assets. “Custody” is defined as “holding, directly or indirectly, client funds or securities, or having any authority to obtain possession of them.” This includes situations in which you:

have physical possession of client funds or securities, even temporarily;
enter into arrangements (including a general power of attorney) authorizing you to withdraw funds or securities from the client’s account (note that if you are authorized to deduct your advisory fees or other expenses directly from clients’ accounts, you have custody); and
serve in a capacity that gives you or a supervised person legal ownership or access to client funds or securities (note that if you are a general partner to a privately-offered pooled investment vehicle, you have custody).

If you have custody, with limited exceptions, you must maintain these client funds and securities at a “qualified custodian.” Generally, qualified custodians include most banks and insured savings associations, SEC-registered broker-dealers, Commodity Exchange Act-registered futures commission merchants, and certain foreign financial institutions. With a limited exception, for client accounts over which you have custody, you must have a reasonable basis for believing that the client (or a designated representative) receives periodic reports directly from the custodian that contain specific information with respect to the funds and securities in custody. With respect to pooled investment vehicles over which you have custody, the qualified custodian must send account statements for the pooled vehicle directly to each investor.
If you, rather than a qualified custodian, send account statements directly to your clients, you must have a “surprise verification” by an independent public accountant. The independent public accountant must verify the funds and securities in your custody or possession at least once each calendar year, and must then promptly file a “certificate of examination” with Form ADV-E with the SEC.4

Requirements for Investment Advisors to Disclose Certain Financial and Disciplinary Information

Registered investment advisors may be required to disclose certain financial and disciplinary information (under Rule 206(4)-4 under the Advisers Act). These requirements are described below.
Registered advisers that have custody or discretionary authority over client funds or securities, or that require prepayment six months or more in advance of more than $500 in advisory fees, must promptly disclose to clients and any prospective clients any financial conditions that are reasonably likely to impair their ability to meet their contractual commitments to their clients.

All registered advisers must also promptly disclose any legal or disciplinary events that would be material to a client’s or a prospective client’s evaluation of the adviser’s integrity or its ability to meet its commitments to clients (regardless of whether the adviser has custody or requires prepayment of fees). The types of legal and disciplinary events that may be material include:

Criminal or civil actions, where the adviser or a management person of the adviser was convicted, pleaded guilty or “no contest,” or was subject to certain disciplinary actions with respect to conduct involving investment-related businesses, statutes, regulations, or activities; fraud, false statements, or omissions; wrongful taking of property; or bribery, forgery, counterfeiting, or extortion.
Administrative proceedings before the SEC, other federal regulatory agencies, or any state agency where the adviser’s or a management person’s activities were found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business or where such person was involved in a violation of an investment-related statute or regulation and was the subject of specific disciplinary actions taken by the agency.
Self-regulatory organization (SRO) proceedings in which the adviser or a management person was found to have caused an investment-related business to lose its authorization to do business; or was found to have been involved in a violation of the SRO’s rules and was the subject of specific disciplinary actions taken by the organization.

Informational Resources Available From the SEC

The SEC provides a great deal of helpful information about the compliance obligations of investment advisors on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment.shtml. This information includes links to relevant laws and rules, staff guidance and studies, enforcement cases, and staff no-action and interpretive letters (generally from 2001 — present). In addition, the SEC’s website contains a list of the source materials that were used in preparing this information sheet.

To assist chief compliance officers of investment advisors and investment companies in meeting their compliance responsibilities and to help enhance compliance in the securities industry, the SEC has established the “CCOutreach Program.” This program includes regional and national seminars on compliance issues of concern to CCOs. Information about CCOutreach and any scheduled events is available at http://www.sec.gov/info/ccoutreach.htm.

Finally, the SEC staff regularly receive calls and correspondence concerning the application of the federal securities laws, and advisers and other registrants are encouraged to communicate any questions or issues to SEC staff. To ensure that you reach the right person at the SEC, the SEC’s website lists the names and contact information for SEC staff in the Division of Investment Management who are responsible for responding to communication from the public about specific topics (http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/imcontact.htm).

With respect to issues or questions that arise in the context of a compliance examination by the SEC, advisers are encouraged to raise any questions or issues directly with the SEC examination team, or with examination supervisors in their local SEC office (contact information for senior examination staff is available at http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/ocie_org.htm).

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