Practical Impact of the Proposed Form PF Amendments on Fund Managers and Reasons for Industry Backlash (Part Two of Two)

The SEC recently issued proposed amendments to Form PF (Proposal), which were met with substantial skepticism in the private funds industry. The broader concern is that the new disclosures and reporting prompted in the Proposal are inconsistent with the SEC’s purported interest in mitigating systemic risk and instead are for examination purposes. Further, the one‑business‑day filings required in the event of certain stress events would onerously burden fund managers, forcing them to direct administrative resources to the effort at the expense of monitoring other pressing compliance concerns. This two-part series examines the nuances of the Proposal and its practical impact on fund managers based on interviews with industry professionals. This second article analyzes the individual SEC Commissioners’ remarks – including the vigorous dissent by Hester M. Peirce – on the Proposal, while also raising a number of ways the practical application of the Proposal would materially impact fund managers. The first article detailed the features of the Proposal that are relevant for hedge fund managers. See “Report Describes the SEC’s Use of Form PF for Hedge Fund Manager Examination Targeting and Risk Management” (Oct. 10, 2014); and “SEC’s First Report on Initial Form PF Filings Offers Insight Into How the Agency Is Using the Collected Data for Examinations, Enforcement and Systemic Risk Monitoring” (Aug. 29, 2013).

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