SEC issues alert to aid CCOs

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released its second ComplianceAlert aimed to provide guidance to chief compliance officers at SEC-registered firms to help them adhere to federal securities laws and regulations. The ComplianceAlert, which was first released in June 2007(InvestmentNews June 15, 2007), provides information on deficiencies detected at firms during recent SEC examinations and encourages CCOs to be proactive in taking steps to address any similar issues at their own companies. Some of the findings highlighted in the new ComplianceAlert include personal trading by investment advisory employees, soft-dollar practices by advisers and supervision of solicitations for advisory services. “Many industry compliance staff told us that after reading [the June 2007 ComplianceAlert], they reviewed their firms’ practices in the areas we noted, and took steps to ensure that their firms’ practices were fully compliant,” Lori Richards, director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, said in a statement. “By highlighting our recent examination findings in this way, we expect that this second ComplianceAlert will be similarly helpful to industry firms that are seeking to be proactive in addressing compliance risks.”