SEC Rule 202(a) Summit - An All Star Line Up

The topic of the day was “SEC Rule 202 (a)-11-1”. By some it could be construed as a dry subject, but with an all star line up of panelists and a room full of executives eager to know the effect this important ruling would have on the industry, the debate was lively and participatory.

The event was SEC Rule 202 (a) Summit, hosted by Villanova University and sponsored by eMoney Advisor. The SEC Rule 202(a) defines more explicitly who is allowed to give financial planning advice and has a major impact on the compliance needs of broker dealers, their Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and the public. In the past, if no fee was charged for financial planning advice and the advice was “incidental” to the sale of a product, then the representative was not considered to be performing “advisory” activities.

eMoney decided to sponsor the Summit after CEO Edmond Walters recognized the education gap in the market. “There is a lot of misunderstanding in the industry about the effects this ruling is going to have and how we can mitigate them. I thought the best way of addressing this was to have the experts speak freely and answer our questions in an open forum.” Attendees included Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, The Guardian, Principal and other major financial services firms. LIMRA, a worldwide association of insurance and financial services companies, also took part in the summit.

Panel experts leading the discussion were:
  • William Meck - Senior Assistant District Administrator (regulation) for the Philadelphia District Office of the U.S. SEC
  • Joseph Del Rasso - Partner at Pepper Hamilton, LLP
  • Dean Mark Sargent - Dean of the University of Villanova School of Law
Congressman Jim Gerlach, Representative of the 6th District of Pennsylvania and member of the Financial Services committee was a guest speaker.

“We have a number of large enterprises using our software in compliance with the ruling. This Summit was an important industry forum to share knowledge about its impact,” Mr. Walters says. “As a company we learned both from the panel experts and the participants. We gained valuable insight which will enable us to make further compliance enhancements to the AdvisorPlatform and reinforce our position as the nation’s leading provider of enterprise software solutions designed to enhance financial advisor / client relationships.”

eMoney is planning to take the Summit on the road, re-running the event in New York City.
Watch this space!