News & Events

Corporate Partner Rajib Chanda was quoted in Ignites, a Financial Times news service, in connection with a proposed SEC rule on business continuity and transition plans for investment advisers. The article, “Industry to SEC: Biz Continuity Rule Needs Big Changes,” discusses the agency’s June proposal, a plan which if finalized as written, would, the industry argues, increase asset manager risks for getting hit with enforcement actions and lawsuits if their services are somehow interrupted. Part of the rule requires firms to draw up transition plans in the event an asset manager goes out of a business, a rule that Rajib states is unclear in implementation costs to the advisory firms, due to the plan’s broad nature, and in benefit to justify those costs. Industry leaders such as Fidelity point out that the plan would not mitigate any particular risk stemming from an adviser transition, since their financial condition has no direct impact on client assets. Rajib concludes “It’s awfully hard to justify a cost-benefit analysis where the benefit to the public is close to zero.”