In 2025, the SEC rolled out key regulatory changes and enforcement actions impacting investment advisers and registered funds. We tracked these developments on the ‘40 Act Blog—here are the 10 posts that captured the most attention from our readers.
- SEC Division of Investment Management Releases Guidance on Website Posting Requirements
- Quick Take: In January, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management’s Disclosure Review and Accounting Office (DRAO) published an Accounting and Disclosure Information (ADI) reminding registrants of website posting obligations under SEC requirements and highlighting common issues relating to summary prospectus use, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and money market funds (MMFs).
- SEC Charges Investment Advisers for Compliance Failures Relating to Cash Sweep Programs
- Quick Take: In January, the SEC settled charges against three dually registered investment advisers and broker-dealers (Advisers) for failing to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations of the Advisers Act related to the firms’ bank deposit sweep programs and the setting of interest rates on advisory client cash held by the programs.
- SEC Enforcement Actions Target Inadequate Disclosures on Conflicts of Interest by Advisory Firms and Broker-Dealers
- Quick Take: On August 29, 2025, the SEC, in separate actions, sanctioned a registered investment adviser and another registered investment adviser and an affiliated broker-dealer for failing to disclose conflicts of interest due to incentives to enroll clients in the firms’ fee-based advisory programs. The firms were found to have made misleading statements and provided inconsistent disclosures regarding financial incentives that could have influenced employee recommendations. The firms agreed to cease-and-desist orders, censures, and combined monetary relief exceeding $25 million.
- SEC Charges Investment Adviser with Compliance Policy Failures Regarding its Handling of Material Nonpublic Information
- Quick Take: The SEC charged a hedge fund manager registered as an investment adviser (Adviser) with failing to establish, implement and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information (MNPI) obtained through its participation on a creditors’ committee.
- SEC Settles with Investment Adviser for Over $100 Million for Misleading Investors About Tax Implications of Retirement Fund Changes
- Quick Take: In January, the SEC announced that an investment adviser (Adviser) agreed to pay over $100 million to settle charges that the firm made misleading statements about capital gains distributions and tax consequences for retail investors who held shares of the Adviser’s target date retirement funds.
- Federal Government Shutdown and the SEC: What Registered Funds, including ETFs and Mutual Funds Need to Know
- Quick Take: As of 12:01 a.m. on October 1, 2025, Congress was unable to pass a continuing resolution to fund U.S. federal government operations, which led to a shutdown of “non-essential services” of the federal government until further action from Congress.
- SEC Releases Annual Registered Investment Company Update
- Quick Take: In April, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management (Staff) published its Annual Registered Investment Company Update (Report) which contains statistics and analysis based on Form N-CEN data received from Registered Investment Companies (Funds) covering the years 2019 through 2024.
- SEC Staff Issues New Names Rule FAQs
- Quick Take: In January, the staff of the Division of Investment Management of the SEC issued responses to frequently asked questions (FAQs) covering the SEC’s 2023 adoption of amendments to Rule 35d-1 under the 1940 Act (the Names Rule). The original 2001 Names Rule required a fund to adopt a policy to invest at least 80% of its assets in accordance with the investment focus the fund’s name suggests. The amendments extend the Names Rule’s coverage to include any fund name with terms suggesting that the fund focuses on investments that have, or investments whose issuers have, particular characteristics (e.g. growth, value, or environmental, social and governance). The FAQs are organized in the following categories: (1) adoption of 80% investment policy; (2) tax-exempt funds; and (3) specific terms commonly used in fund names.
- Approaching Compliance Dates for Regulation S-P
- Quick Take: The compliance deadlines for the SEC’s amendments to Regulation S-P are approaching. The compliance deadline for larger entities was December 3, 2025, and the deadline for smaller entities is June 3, 2026.
- SEC Extends Effective and Compliance Dates for Amendments to Investment Company Reporting Requirements
- Quick Take: The SEC announced a two-year extension to the effective and compliance dates for rule amendments adopted in August 2024 that increased the frequency of reports registered funds must provide to the SEC and to the public via Form N-PORT