A Different Kind of Rule Change Back in the day, adviser ads were simple. You’d find them in the Sunday paper, maybe with a black-and-white headshot and a few polite sentences about “trusted guidance for your financial future.” Nobody was tweeting about market outlooks or posting client reviews online because the technology didn’t exist. […]
Over the past year, many advisory firms have been quietly preparing for a major regulatory shift. Drafting AML policies, vetting service providers, reworking onboarding flows—it’s been a slow burn of behind-the-scenes work for teams already stretched thin. That pressure eased slightly when FinCEN announced it would postpone its new anti-money laundering rule for investment advisers. […]
We’re proud to share that Smartria has been selected as the exclusive compliance platform within the Wealth Engineering Expert Sourcing Consortium—a highly regarded ecosystem serving 2,150+ top-tier wealth management firms across the country. Read the official press release here. This strategic partnership expands our visibility and reach, and more importantly, validates our mission: to make […]
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 17, 2025 — Smartria®, a leading compliance software platform for investment advisors, is excited to announce Mark Cunha as its new Head of Growth Initiatives. This strategic addition to the executive team reflects Smartria’s commitment to accelerating innovation and expanding its market footprint across the regulatory technology landscape. Mark brings more than 10 years of […]
For most founders, regulatory discussions don’t appear on the radar until something goes wrong: a delayed offering, a compliance snag, or a legal gray zone no one warned them about. But often, the most impactful policy decisions aren’t sweeping legislation—they’re quiet structural revisions made in committee meetings that receive little attention outside legal circles. That’s […]
Introduction: When A Routine Release Signals Structural Change SEC data releases are rarely splashy. Written in neutral tones, stripped of commentary, and often dropped mid-week with little amplification, they’re not designed to provoke headlines. But they are vital. For those who know where to look, these releases trace the fault lines of market structure […]
In the early 2000s, SEC exams often meant dusting off physical binders and hunting through emails for attestations. A good compliance officer knew the art of printing PDFs and organizing labeled folders. But that era is over. With its latest release of three granular, data-heavy reports, the SEC isn’t suggesting that firms modernize. It’s modeling […]
The SEC’s 2024 enforcement numbers were never going to tell the whole story. Yes, the agency brought 26% fewer cases than the year before; but no one paying attention would call this a quiet year. Why? The Commission secured $8.2 billion in financial remedies, the highest total in its history. This wasn’t a strategy shift […]
The most valuable signal in compliance isn’t always what’s new; it’s what keeps showing up. That’s what makes FINRA’s 2025 Oversight Report so revealing. Underneath the new headlines (third-party risks, complex annuities, overnight trading) you’ll find a familiar story: firms still struggling with documentation, supervision, and suitability. But this year, the stakes feel sharper. Whether […]
On March 19, 2025, the SEC dropped an update that compliance officers have been waiting for since the Marketing Rule’s enforcement wave began. The new FAQs target the thorniest part of the rule: performance data. It’s not a sweeping rewrite. It’s a set of high-stakes clarifications—delivered with language that should make any adviser’s legal team […]
