COVID-19's Impact on This Summer's Events, More

As she writes in this month's The Playing Field column: "Duane Thompson, senior policy analyst at Fi360, told me in mid-June that although brokerage firms and reps 'are as ready as they're going to be" to comply with Reg BI, 'it's going to be a learning curve.'"

While the SEC's exam division is willing to work with firms unless an egregious violation is found, "there are ways you can get tripped up on" Reg BI and Form CRS compliance, namely when it comes to disclosure and conflicts, fees and expenses related to Form CRS," Thompson said.

In this year's Presidents Poll, highlighted in our May issue, 54% of broker-dealer executives said their firms are very prepared for Reg BI, 43% said they are somewhat prepared, and the remaining 3% said are not very prepared. Also, 94% of executives surveyed indicated that their BDs plan to spend more on compliance in 2020 vs. 2019.

As we go to print, the U.S. has some 2.2 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 119,000 deaths from it. In Texas, where I'm living, over 4,000 new cases were diagnosed on June 16.

The pandemic remains a constant in our lives, as protests over the May 25 killing of George Floyd and in support of the Black Lives Matter continue.

In these rapidly changing and unprecedented times, we wish you a healthy and safe summer. Please send us any of your own news or views on advisor-related topics to [email protected].