In the recently published Risk Alert, the SEC summarizes their observations of RIA disclosures, policies and applications on economic conflicts of interest, and fee arrangements. These observations are not particularly new. As a fiduciary, an advisor has an obligation to either avoid or mitigate conflicts of interest through full and fair disclosures. However, what continues to remain challenging for many RIAs is building a process to properly identify conflicts of interest, discerning when they should be disclosed, and maintaining proper controls to ensure fee billing practices remain aligned with the advisory agreements, disclosures, and a firm’s actual operations. 

Rather than summarize what this most recent Risk Alert identified, we wanted to provide some practical takeaways to help you continue building out your firm’s compliance systems specifically for conflicts and fee billing arrangements.

Over the last several years, it’s no secret that digital currencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have stolen the show both from a regulatory and investment standpoint. From news headlines to court cases, cryptocurrency and other digital assets have become almost impossible to ignore.

But what is cryptocurrency? How does it work? What are the risks? Is the hype warranted?

While this topic is complex and multi-layered, we hope to address some of these questions and provide additional resources for those who want to dive deeper into this technology.

Let’s start with the thing itself. What is cryptocurrency?

More Technology, More Logins

“Technology” has felt like a buzzword for a long time now. In many ways, it has completely transformed our world, including how we do business. As more of the financial industry continues to move online, the processes to set up logins, IDs, and delegations can feel more complicated. To assist, we have put together a guide on some common logins for Advisers. You’ll find links, how-tos, and other resources. If there are other topics like this you want to hear about, let us know! Reply to this email campaign or leave us a comment or message on LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you.