On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its 2018 examination priorities. The protection of retail investors, including seniors and those saving for retirement, remain a priority. In fact, examinations will focus on products and services offered to retail investors, as well as the disclosures they receive about those investments.

The SEC approved during the summer of 2016 revisions to Form ADV effective on October 1, 2017 (the “Compliance Date”). The changes are designed to increase the amount of data the SEC collects so it can better monitor potential systemic market risks. Advisers must provide greater transparency in several areas, including regulatory assets under management (“RAUM”) attributable to various client areas such as separately managed accounts (“SMAs”) and wrap-fee programs.

The SEC issued a risk alert on May 17, 2017 in response to the widespread ransomware attack, known as WannaCry. This widespread cyberattack affected numerous companies across over 100 countries. Initial reports indicate that the hacker or hacking group behind the attack gained access to enterprise servers either through Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol compromise or the exploitation of a critical Windows Server Message Block version 1 vulnerability.