Registered Investment Advisers

Registered investment advisers carry a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interests of their clients — a standard that permeates every aspect of the compliance program, from fee disclosure in Form ADV to the management of conflicts of interest in trading, compensation, and service provider selection. The SEC's examination program for investment advisers has intensified in recent years, with EXAMS staff deploying data analytics to identify anomalies in adviser operations and a growing focus on higher-risk practice areas including complex fee structures, wrap fee programs, and AI-assisted investment recommendations.

The SEC marketing rule — effective November 2022 — replaced decades of advertising rule interpretation with a comprehensive framework governing all adviser communications that constitute an advertisement. The rule's requirements for testimonials and endorsements, third-party ratings, performance advertising, and hypothetical performance have created compliance obligations that many advisers have not yet fully addressed. SEC examination staff have made marketing rule compliance a standing examination priority, and the firms receiving examination attention are those whose policies and practices have not kept pace with the rule's requirements.