While registered investment advisors must press ahead in meeting their Form ADV filing obligations during the government shutdown, the agency's divisions will be unable to conduct business as usual.
“Firms still can and should make all required filings (ADV or otherwise) with the SEC,” Gail Bernstein, the Investment Adviser Association's general counsel, told ThinkAdvisor on Wednesday.
“I believe that all statutory and regulatory deadlines must be kept by [SEC] registrants (or applicants),” Berstein said, as noted in the SEC's operations shutdown plan.
The agency's divisions of Corporation Finance, Investment Management, Trading and Markets, and the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations “will be unable to process filings, provide interpretive advice, issue no-action letters or conduct any other normal Division and Office activities,” according to the plan.
As a result, “new or pending registration statements or applications for exemptive relief will not be processed regardless of the status of any review of those filings.”
The commission's Division of Investment Management also posted a notice stating that under shutdown guidelines “you won't be able to accelerate the effectiveness of various investment company filings and you won't get answers to questions from the Division,” Bernstein notes.
The shutdown guidance as it relates to the SEC's Investment Adviser Registration Depository, or IARD, system “is operated pursuant to a contract and thus will remain fully functional and will continue to accept filings as long as funding for the contractor remains available through permitted means,” according to the plan.
However, OCIE will be “unable to approve” advisor registration applications, and Investment Management cannot “provide interpretive advice regarding the Advisers Act, rules or forms, or consider applications for exemptive relief under the Advisers Act,” the plan states.
As a result, new or pending investment advisor applications “will not be processed,” but the IARD system will continue to accept annual and other-than annual amendments to Form ADV, Form ADV-W and Form ADV-E filings.
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
