History may not be the right guide during this particular transition.

Congress created the SEC in 1934 as an independent agency, and its goal was to insulate the watchdog of US securities markets from political meddling.

Still, elections hold consequences for the SEC and the agency’s priorities.

Why? There are a few reasons.

Customer Relationship Summaries, also known as Form CRS, are a key accompaniment to the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest, or Reg BI, which governs the standard of conduct for broker/dealers. As of last year, broker/dealers, Registered Investment Advisors, and dually registered firms must provide each client, or prospective client, with the firm’s Form CRS.

In 2020, the SEC took steps to advance both investor choice and investor protection. Now, the new SEC chair will have to determine if the former has gone too far in hindering the latter.

The proposed rule comment period closed yesterday, and if the DOL is seeking to finalize ahead of the November elections, it is unlikely to make substantive changes in response to comment.

Though this timeline will be a challenge for the industry, we agree with the SEC’s decision.

The SEC's regulation could give some firms a way to set themselves apart from the rest.

A closer look at what we expect from compliance with the final rule.

In the original paper, the data went through 2009. We thought the period after 2009 was particularly interesting for looking
at changes to conflicts of interest. There was a lot more regulation with the enactment of Dodd- Frank. READ MORE