Welcome to our biweekly recap, where we curate the top compliance news and insights from various industry publications. We have selected the most relevant and important updates related to regulatory compliance, industry news, and critical updates.
Today’s recap focuses on the newly appointed SEC Chair, the AUM threshold for SEC registration, FCA review of Consumer Duty, NASAA’s new rule on the use of “advisor,” and the SEC’s restructuring.
Here are our top compliance articles as of April 11, 2025:
Trump SEC pick Atkins gets senate confirmation (Author – Leo Almazora, Investment News)
“The Senate has confirmed Paul Atkins as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, ushering in a change in leadership at the agency amid ongoing internal upheaval and significant market scrutiny…
Atkins has stated that he intends to pursue regulation that is “appropriately tailored,” pointing to a narrower interpretation of the agency’s legal mandate.”
SEC Weighs Raising AUM Threshold for Advisor Registration (Author – Melanie Waddell, Think Advisor)
Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda has suggested raising the AUM threshold for SEC registration. Currently, once a firm has $100 million or more in AUM, they must register with the SEC, however Uyeda pointed out that the growing number of registered firms has created strains and increasing the threshold would allow the regulator to be more focused on larger firms.
Questions have been raised regarding the impact this would have both on firms and state regulators.
FCA outlines next steps on Consumer Duty rule review (Author – FCA)
The FCA announced plans to streamline Consumer Duty rules, reducing the burden on firms while continuing to protect consumers. Their plans include:
- Making it easier to navigate regulations for consumer finance, investment and mortgages firms by planning to retire more than 100 pages of outdated guidance.
- Withdrawing hundreds of supervisory publications.
- Reviewing current prescriptive disclosure rules to give firms more flexibility to tailor communications to customers’ needs and preferences, like online and digital transactions.
- Revisiting rules for businesses with customers outside the UK, for example looking at whether insurance firms need to apply UK rules for their overseas customers.
NASAA members vote to prohibit misleading use of advisor title (Author – Steve Randall, Investment News)
“Use of the title ‘advisor’ or ‘adviser’ without the required certification are now expressly prohibited by the North American Securities Administrators Association’s Conduct Rule.
The changes to NASAA’s Dishonest or Unethical Business Practices of Broker-Dealers and Agents model rule were proposed in November 2024 and members of the association have voted to adopt the update which aligns it more closely with the SEC’s Reg BI.
NASAA is concerned that the use of advisor/adviser titles can create confusion among investors, who may mistakenly believe that they are receiving fiduciary advice when that is not the case. The goal is to reduce the “blurring” between broker-dealers and investment advisers, and to provide more clarity to investors.”
SEC to Restructure Regional Offices (Author – Nicola M. White, Think Advisor)
Starting April 9, the SEC is reorganizing their regional offices and reporting structure. Regions will not be broken down as follows:
- Western Region
- Southeast Region
- Northeast Region
Each region will have a Deputy Director. “Enforcement staff will report to deputy directors for geographical areas and an enforcement director for the specialized units…”
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