Advisers Blast New SEC Policy re Accredited Investor Rule

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(InvestmentNews.com)-Financial advisers rejected a recommendation Friday from the acting chairman of the SEC that will loosen the accredited investor definition (aka QIB) and increase investor access to private and exotic investment strategies that are usually reserved for rich people.

“I think this is an awful idea, as awful as ideas come,” said Scot Stark, owner of Stark Strategic Capital Management.

Reacting to comments made on Friday by acting Securities and Exchange Commissioner Michael Piwowar, which recommended allowing more retail-class investors access to investments currently restricted to people with a net worth of at least $1 million, a lot of advisers didn’t see the logic.

“Any guidelines that help to protect the investor consumer is a positive,” said Mark Germain, chief executive of Beacon Wealth Management.

“As an adviser, it is easy to see that many clients do not understand the investments that some may offer to them,” he added. “The accredited investor rule puts an onus on the adviser to be sure the investor understands the risk and is willing to take the risk.”

During his speech Friday, Mr. Piwowar referenced the “forgotten investor” and said the current accreditation rules limit access to types of investments that could increase portfolio performance and diversification.

“I question the notion that non-accredited investors are truly protected by regulations that prevent them from investing in high-risk, high-return securities available only to the Davos jet-set,” he said.

But most financial advisers are questioning the logic of increasing access to products and strategies that typically come with higher fees, less liquidity, and less regulatory oversight.

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Accredited Investor Rule Subject To Change Thanks to Crowdfunding and JOBS Act

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Brokerdealer.com blog update courtesy of extract from FINalternatives.com

FINALTERNATIVESThe Securities and Exchange Commission is considering changes to its 30-year-old definition of “accredited investor” that could have serious implications for the crowdfunding industry.

Accredited investors are permitted to participate in private securities placements, and since the passage of the JOBS Act in 2012 opened the door to general solicitation for investors, many have been finding those opportunities through crowdfunding platforms.

The current definition of an accredited investor, written in 1982, says it is a person with earned income in excess of $200,000 (or $300,000 with a spouse) in each of the prior two years or one with a net worth over $1 million (alone or with a spouse), excluding the value of his/her primary residence.

Those pushing for change say the income thresholds have not been updated for inflation—that in today’s dollars, $200,000 and $300,000 would be $500,000 and $700,000.

But critics, like Brendan Ross, president of Direct Lending Investments, say such a change would halve the number of accredited households in the U.S., which today make up, by the SEC’s own calculations, 7.4% of all households.

Ross, who manages a short-term, high-yield small business loan fund, told FINalternatives that as regulators “become more educated on the implications of such a change, they will be less likely to move forward.”

“This would negatively impact the investment management industry as the number of accredited investors would sharply decrease. It’s unlikely that the SEC would want to impinge upon the private placement industry, which is the source of most financial innovation. Value investing, small companies, emerging markets, commodity funds, and REITs all started with accredited investors putting money into private placement vehicles, which then evolved into mutual funds.”

 

For the full story, please visit www.finalternatives.com