The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded a contract for a major study comparing how the different regulatory systems that apply to broker-dealers and investment advisers affect investors.

”Our goal is improved investor protection through updated SEC regulations that deal with the realities of today’s marketplace,” SEC chairman Christopher Cox said. “The study will develop the best available information, from inside and outside of the commission, to inform this important process.”

The SEC has selected the RAND Corporation to carry out the research. The commission first suggested a study in connection with a rule adopted in April 2005, allowing broker-dealers to offer fee-based brokerage accounts without being required to comply with the Advisers Act. The rule was the subject of a large number of comments. The commission determined, however, that many of the concerns that commenters raised in the rulemaking went well beyond the scope of the proposed rule, and thus were best addressed by the study. The study RAND will conduct will explore those concerns and examine how the different regulatory regimes affect investors.

RAND will study information on subjects such as the ways in which broker-dealers and investment advisers market, sell, and deliver financial products, accounts, programs and services to individual investors. It will conduct interviews of interested parties, including industry groups, regulators, and investor advocates; will conduct an extensive search of relevant economic and business literature; will collect relevant business documents; will interview broker-dealers, investment advisers, and their respective associated persons; will conduct investor focus group interviews; and will summarize and evaluate the data for the commission’s use in assessing the current legal and regulatory environment.