The SEC’s Recent Revisions to Form ADV and the Recordkeeping Rule: What Investment Advisers Need to Know About Managed Account Disclosure, Umbrella Registration and Outsourced CCOs (Part One of Two)

On August 25, 2016, the SEC adopted amendments to Form ADV, Part 1A, and to Rule 204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), the so-called “recordkeeping rule.” The amendments were previously proposed on May 20, 2015. See “A Roadmap to the SEC’s Proposed Changes to Form ADV” (Jun. 4, 2015). The amendments to Form ADV provide several points of clarification and elicit new or additional information from investment advisers, while the amendments to Rule 204-2 impose additional recordkeeping requirements on investment advisers with respect to communications that contain performance claims. These changes are designed to better protect clients and investors from fraudulent or otherwise misleading performance information. In a two-part guest series, Michael F. Mavrides and Anthony M. Drenzek, partner and special regulatory counsel, respectively, from Proskauer Rose discuss the practical implications of the amendments and highlight important steps legal and compliance personnel can take to ensure they are prepared in advance of the compliance date. This first article discusses the detailed disclosures that advisers will be required to provide with respect to managed account clients and the firm’s chief compliance officer, as well as factors a registrant should consider with respect to pursuing an umbrella registration. The second article will address the new disclosure requirements relating to an adviser’s use of social media; office locations; the amount of an adviser’s proprietary assets and assets under management; the sale of interests in 3(c)(1) funds to qualified clients; and the recordkeeping requirements regarding performance claims in communications that are distributed to any person. For additional insight from Mavrides, see “Key Legal and Operational Considerations in Connection With Preparing, Filing and Updating Form PF (Part Two of Three)” (Nov. 10, 2011); as well as our two part-series on remote examinations: Part One (May 12, 2016); and Part Two (May 19, 2016). For more on Form ADV, see “When and How Can Hedge Fund Managers Permissibly Disguise the Identities of Their Hedge Funds in Form ADV and Form PF?” (Dec. 1, 2012); and “ALJ Decision Against Investment Adviser Who Received Undisclosed Compensation From a Hedge Fund Manager It Recommended to Clients Highlights SEC Scrutiny of Forms ADV” (May 3, 2012).

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