The sponsor of legislation that would create a self-regulatory organization for investment advisers today suggested that he would consider limited changes to the proposal….

Mr. Bachus' Investment Adviser Oversight Act of 2011 is meant to boost regulation of advisers after a Securities and Exchange Commission report found that only 9% of registered advisers are examined each year, as it lacks the resources to do more. Many members of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, which held the hearing, also pointed to the SEC's failure to uncover Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme as proof that more oversight is needed.

Republicans at the hearing did not signal any willingness to give the SEC more resources to boost their inspection program or allow them to charge firms user fees to pay for examinations — two other solutions the commission had proposed in a report to Congress…

"The panel was stacked with those who are pro-SRO," said Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, managing director of public policy and communications with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. "If we go to an SRO model, it must be structured in a way that's truly independent, not under an organization that at its core is a broker-dealer membership organization." Read more >

Investment News
Liz Skinner
September 13, 2011