On September 9th, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management published a guide for small entities (the “Guide”) on complying with new requirements for registered investment advisers and broker-dealers to provide retail investors with Form CRS.
Form CRS is the result of certain rules recently adopted by the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Those rules, adopted by the SEC on June 5, 2019, require registered investment advisers and registered broker-dealers to provide a brief customer- or client-relationship summary in a short-form disclosure document. According to the SEC, Form CRS is intended to provide retail investors with simple, easy-to-understand information about the nature of their relationships with each investment professional and would supplement other, more detailed disclosures, such as Form ADV, which is filed by registered investment advisers.
The Guide highlights certain topics to assist firms with complying with the Form CRS requirements. These topics include:
- Who must file and deliver Form CRS
- Whether Form CRS is in addition to a registrant’s current disclosure and delivery requirements
- Whether dual registrants may prepare a single Form CRS
- Topics to be discussed in Form CRS
- Form CRS formatting requirements
- Methods of delivering Form CRS
- Timing of delivery of Form CRS
- Ongoing delivery requirements
- Updating Form CRS
- Posting Form CRS on a firm’s website
- Filing form CRS with the SEC
- Recordkeeping requirements
Generally, firms will be required to file their initial Form CRS no later than June 30, 2020.
The Guide is available here.
