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The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations this past week issued risk alerts specifying what examiners may look at when they visit advisory firms and broker-dealers to check on compliance with Form CRS and Regulation Best Interest. With the SEC now clear that the June 30 compliance date for both requirements will not be changed (ACA Insight, 4/6/20), firms – already dealing with the problems created by the coronavirus – will need to make sure they are in compliance, applicable with these new rules.

The SEC has effectively extended its public comment deadline for a number of proposed rules to May 1, adding a week to the previous extension of April 24. Both extensions were made in response to the changes following the advent of the coronavirus, which has led to firm disruptions. Whether the latest extension is enough however, is in question, as one commissioner called for an even longer period.

Investment advisory firms and broker-dealers with subsidiaries or affiliates in the United Kingdom will need to follow two new sets of “expectations” for dual-regulated firms and solo-regulated firms issued recently by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The statements lay out the regulators’ views on senior management responsibilities, temporary staff arrangements, furloughed staff and more in the wake of COVID-19.