The SEC’s Division of Investment Management has announced that nearly 4,000 investment advisors have registered with the SEC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. 

In fact, with the switch to state registration, Investment Management estimates that there will be over 10,000 RIAs with approximately $8.6 trillion in assets under management.  These RIAs will now be subject to SEC and state registration pursuant to Dodd-Frank, allowing regulatory access and supervision over a wide variety of activities in the private equity and hedge fund business.

We want to repeat, and, as we have detailed in the past, registration is not necessarily bad.  I still believe that registration may, in fact, provide investment advisers with a measure of protection.  That is, being registered provides an operational framework allowing a registered investment adviser to rely upon standardized procedures and policies, and, if followed, presents a positive defense if accused of wrongdoing.