Legislation has been proposed that would authorize the Securities and Exchange Commission to levy fees on investment advisors in order to pay for more diligent oversight of those registered as advisors.
The legislation, drafted by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is an alternative to legislation that would shift oversight of investment advisors to a self-regulatory organization, presumably one run by the Financial Institution Regulatory Authority.
The bill is seen as a surrogate to the Investment Advisor Oversight act of 2012, H.R. 4624. That bill was sponsored by Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.
That bill was subject to a hearing June 6.
The original plan was for the Bachus/McCarthy bill to be marked up by the committee later this month. However, committee staff officials made clear after a June 6 hearing on the bill that no date has been set for markup.
And, other legislators, including Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate majority leader, have stated recently that the House is through legislating for the year and will wait until after the November election before dealing with additional legislation.
Under the Waters bill, the SEC would be mandated to collect total fees to cover the cost of examining more investment advisors than were subject to examination in fiscal year 2011.
According to the bill, the SEC would determine fees for individual advisers, taking into account such factors as the firm's size, the number and types of clients, and their risk profiles.
