Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission jointly agreed to further extend the compliance deadline from October 1, 2026 to July 1, 2027. That means it will not be a 2027 item for annual filers. “Commission staff have been carefully reviewing the comments submitted in response to the amendments, and they…
On July 7, the SEC released its latest regulatory flexibility agenda. Browsing through the agenda, its a clear sign of de-regulation of financial services. Of the 38 items on the agenda, I highlight some that are most applicable to private funds. Pay-to-Play Reform The SES is considering “recommending that the Commission propose “amendments to rule…
Since 1972, the Securities and Exchange Commission has generally allowed companies and individuals to settle civil enforcement investigations without admitting to the SEC’s allegations, provided that the settling party also does not deny them. See 17 CFR 202.5(e) . “[I]t is important to avoid creating, or permitting to be created, an impression that a decree…
The other half of the Securities and Exchange Commission budget request for 2027 is a report on its performance in fiscal year 2025. How did the SEC perform in enforcement actions? The SEC was off its game. The 85% metric was the lowest in years. I believe this number might dip some more with the…
I wrote last week how the Securities and Exchange Commission had 18% of its staff depart in fiscal year 2025 thanks to the DOGE efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. For Fiscal Year 2027, the SEC is proposing to reduce its budget by another 11%. However, the SEC is proposing to add…
This is press release that would not have been written by judge Margaret Ryan if she was still serving as the Director of Enforcement. She only lasted six months with the rapid down-sizing and lack of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission. I was stunned to see the SEC attack its prior stewardship in…
As retail access to private markets accelerates, the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted a roundtable on Wednesday to discuss governance, valuation, and other considerations in the private markets. The SEC has a clear aim of promoting “retailization” of private markets. My skepticism of this direction is not one of risk and valuation but of liquidity….
A major goal of a chief compliance officer at a registered investment adviser is to avoid have to face the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement staff. I’ve never spent much time reading its enforcement manual. It’s been updated. The last update was in 2017. There are updates to the Wells process when one becomes the…
The Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 established the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation within the Securities and Exchange Commission. That Act requires an annual report of statistical information and substantive analysis. That annual report was recently released. Perhaps a bit late because Stacey Bowers, who served as the Advocate throughout…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing some definitional changes to ease its regulatory flexibility. I didn’t think much of this, putting it into the compliance arcana bucket. That is, until I took a brief look at the changes on the Fact Sheet. The SEC is proposing to increase the definition of a “small” investment…