Foreside News

Foreside is pleased to announce that Susan Chamberlain, Managing Director of Foreside’s Alternative Investment Services, was a panelist at a recent event hosted by the CFA Society of Chicago. She participated in the Society’s “Social Media Summit: Compliance and CFAs,” alongside co-presenters Joanna Belbey, Social Media and Compliance Specialist, Actiance, Inc., Peter Hanson, Managing Partner, Astor Capital Management LLC, Scott Kleinberg, Social Media Specialist, Chicago Tribune and Mike Langford, Senior Social Business Strategist, Socialware Inc. The event, which took place on January 25, 2012 at Morningstar, was “designed to bring together the social media technology and financial worlds to discuss practical solutions to the LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter obstacles that charterholders face.”

Click here for more information about this event.

Foreside is pleased to announce that it will be a Silver Sponsor at IndexUniverse’s 5th Annual Inside ETFs Conference, to be held at The Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, FL from January 22-24, 2012. If you are attending this conference, please stop by our booth to learn more about Foreside and our services.

Securities And Exchange Commission Charges Investment Advisers For Inadequate Compliance Programs

Under Rule 206(4)-7 of the Investment Advisers Act, which is known as the “Compliance Rule,” registered investment advisers are required to adopt and implement written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent, detect, and correct securities law violations. The Compliance Rule also requires annual review of the policies and procedures for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation, and designation of a chief compliance officer to be responsible for administering the policies and procedures.

Three recent cases stem from an initiative within the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit to proactively work with agency examiners to ensure viable compliance programs are in place at firms. When SEC examiners identify deficiencies in a firm’s compliance program, those deficiencies need to be corrected before they lead to other securities law violations that could harm investors.

The firms will pay financial penalties and institute a series of corrective measures to settle the SEC’s charges.

For more information regarding these three cases, please visit the SEC website.

Foreside is pleased to announce that it will be a sponsor at the AM&AA 2012 Winter Conference, to be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV from January 17-19, 2012.

On Wednesday, January 4, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a risk alert on the evolving topic of social media use by registered investment advisers. Key takeaways from this seven-page alert include the following:

Investment advisers that use or permit the use of social media by their representatives, solicitors and/or third parties should consider periodically evaluating the effectiveness of their compliance program as it relates to social media. Factors that might be considered include usage guidelines, content standards, sufficient monitoring, approval of content, training, etc. Particular attention should be paid to third party content (if permitted) and recordkeeping responsibilities.

Click here to read the full text of the SEC alert.

For more regarding the SEC and social media, see this article on a recent SEC enforcement action against an investment adviser accused of using social media sites, including LinkedIn, to defraud investors.

To learn more about Foreside’s Compliance Services, including social media-related compliance assistance, visit the Compliance Services section of our website.