The Washington, D.C.-based Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) will have several new items of its agenda in 2016, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and variable annuities, along with other new priorities such as firms’ liquidity controls, and public pension advisers, the SEC announced on Monday.
These new items will be accompanied by a continued focus on risk areas such as cybersecurity, microcap fraud, fee selection, and reverse churning, the regulator’s announcement says.
Protecting retail investors, including those investing for retirement, remains a priority in 2016, the SEC announcement adds. To that end, the U.S. regulator is planning compliance work to review ETFs and ETF trading practices, variable annuity recommendations and disclosure, and potential conflicts and risks involving advisers to public pension funds.
In addition, the SEC.is planning to evaluate broker-dealers’ and investment advisers’ liquidity risk management practices, and firms’ compliance with the SEC’s rules that aim to strengthen the technology infrastructure of the U.S. securities markets.
“These new areas of focus are extremely important to investors and financial institutions across the spectrum,” says Mary Jo White, SEC chairwoman, in a statement. “Through information sharing and conducting comprehensive examinations, OCIE continues to promote compliance with the federal securities laws to better protect investors and our markets.”
“We hope that registrants will use this information to inform the evaluation of their own compliance programs in these key areas,” adds Marc Wyatt, director of the OCIE.