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SEC Asks For Comments About Serving Older Investors

By Staff Writer

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants members of the public to tell it how to ensure that financial services firms deal fairly with senior investors.

The SEC announced a joint senior investor “best practices” effort with the North American Securities Administrators Association, Washington, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Washington, earlier this month.

The SEC hopes the new notice will bring in information about industry practices that appear to be successful at making sure that companies and sales representatives work with older investors in a responsible fashion, officials say.

The SEC is asking for descriptions of effective practices in areas such as marketing and advertising; account opening product and account reviews; reviews of ongoing relationships; surveillance and compliance reviews; and training for firm employees.

The SEC also is asking about efforts to discern and meet the changing needs of customers as they age.

That category includes “information such as procedures for handling customer accounts if the customer becomes unable to make their own investment decisions, required documentation, and any review of customer accounts as the customer ages to ensure customers’ investment objectives are being met,” officials write.