Podcast of Interest: Stradley Partners Address SEC Regulatory Reset

On March 16, Stradley Ronon partners launched a new podcast episode titled “The SEC's Regulatory Reset: Staying Ahead of the Curve.” Partners Bruce Leto, Sara Crovitz, and Jan Folena discuss industry and regulatory developments under SEC Chair Paul Atkins. Areas of discussion included:

• Regulatory updates such as recent additions to the Names Rule FAQs and proposed changes to Form N-PORT.
• Developments in tokenization, blockchain-based fund registration, and exchange-traded funds.
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exam preparation and strategy and current exam focus areas.

Specifically related to the examinations process, Jan Folena noted that the Commission remains focused on targeted exams. She stated that in some cases, the Examinations staff may be more involved in “some of the more routine violations that enforcement would otherwise handle,” and as a result noted that it is important that responses address concerns but are not overly broad, registrants want to make sure their statements cannot be used against them in the future. Jan further emphasized that “the statute of limitations for the SEC is five or 10 years, depending on the violation, and that time will outlast this Commission.”

On dual share class issues, Bruce noted that “ETF share classes are really not for every single fund” and that operational issues remain. He added that transfer agents and omnibus account holders continue to work on automated solutions for exchanges from the open-end fund class to the ETF class.

Click here to listen to the Stradley podcast “The SEC's Regulatory Reset: Staying Ahead of the Curve.”