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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > SEC

Trade Groups Plead With SEC to Rethink Custody Rule Plan

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What You Need to Know

  • The groups told the SEC not to finalize the new custody rule in its current form.
  • The agency should gain a better understanding of the current custodial framework, the groups said.
  • Gensler told senators Tuesday that in the last two years, the agency reopened 18 SEC rules for further public comment.

More than two dozen trade groups urged the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday not to adopt its Safeguarding Advisory Client Assets proposal “in its current form.”

The 26 groups — which include the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Financial Services Institute and the Investment Company Institute — told SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in a letter that the agency should first “gain a better understanding of the current” custodial framework.

In February, the SEC voted 4-1 to expand the scope of the current advisor custody rule beyond client funds and securities to include any client assets of which an advisor has custody, including cryptocurrencies.

On Aug. 23, the SEC reopened the comment period on the proposed new safeguarding rule that would redesignate and amend the current custody rule under the Investment Advisers Act.

The initial comment period ended on May 8. The rule was published on Aug. 30 in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period.

“Where the Commission can identify shortcomings that have failed to protect investors from loss or misappropriation of traditional assets, it should propose changes, based on a careful evaluation of the issues identified by commenters, that target any gaps in the current custodial framework while preserving that framework’s many strengths,” the trade groups wrote.

They continued: “If those changes represent a material change from the approach in the Proposal, the Commission should withdraw and re-propose the Proposal.”

Finalizing a new rule “of which significant portions have been materially changed from the version as proposed would deny the public the opportunity to provide invaluable feedback on those changes and deprive the Commission of the benefits of any such feedback, consequences that would undermine the integrity and quality of our securities markets and the regulations that govern them,” the groups said.

The proposal, the groups reiterated to Gensler, includes “four fundamental changes to today’s well-established and demonstrably effective custody framework without a clear policy rationale,” including creating “an overly broad definition of ‘custody’ that includes many advisor practices that are already heavily regulated.”

Reopening Comment Periods

In his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee the same day, Gensler said that in the last two years, the agency “reopened 18 of our rules for further public comment. When comment periods close, we often continue to get additional comments through meetings and otherwise, which staff has considered as well.”

Based on the public feedback, Gensler continued, “the staff and the Commission consider possible adjustments to the proposals and whether it’s appropriate to move forward to a final adoption. This process generally takes 12–24 months and we move to adopt rules only when the staff and the Commission think they are ready to be considered. We’re focused on getting things right — based on the economics, the Commission’s legal authorities and promoting the SEC’s mission — not the clock.”

The SEC, Gensler stated, has issued proposals for most of its unified agenda, which the agency laid out two years ago.

“We also have finalized 22 rulemakings, nearly all of which have changed based on public feedback,” Gensler said.

AI Proposal

IRI and FSI also joined other groups in telling the SEC to withdraw its Conflicts of Interest Associated with the Use of Predictive Data Analytics by Broker-Dealers and Investment Advisers proposal.

The plan, approved in early August, addresses conflicts when broker-dealers and advisors use artificial intelligence and predictive data analytics. Comments are due on the plan by Oct. 10.

The groups told the SEC that while they “support appropriate regulatory frameworks that protect investors, we find this proposal unnecessary, inadequately reasoned and fatally flawed. We are also concerned that the Commission lacks statutory authority to adopt these rules.”

Image: Diego Radzinschi/ALM


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