WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted rules that will require greater disclosure from the private fund industry. Director of Securities Policy Benjamin Schiffrin released the following statement:
“Private funds have trillions of dollars of assets under management, yet regulators do not have enough information about them to properly gauge the risks they pose. Since the original Form PF rule was finalized in 2011, both the number of private funds and the amounts and types of assets being invested in those funds have seen tremendous growth. In 2022, private funds reached over $25 trillion in assets under management. These private funds are deeply interconnected with our financial system, which means that distress at private funds will not be limited to the funds themselves but will impact the markets and the economy as a whole, potentially triggering a full-blown crisis with devastating consequences for all Americans. Today’s action ensures that regulators are better able to guard against these systemic risks.
“The amendments that the agencies adopted today fill key information gaps that have become apparent with respect to private funds. For example, Form PF currently allows large hedge fund advisers to report certain aggregated information about the hedge funds they advise. This aggregation can make it difficult to understand the role these funds play when turmoil strikes certain segments of the markets. This was apparent during the market instability in March 2020. The amendments eliminate the aggregate reporting requirement.
“In the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, Congress authorized the SEC to require that advisers to private funds file reports with the Commission that are necessary or appropriate in the public interest and for the protection of investors or for the assessment of systemic risk by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). The SEC and CFTC recognized appropriately that the evolution of private funds in the last decade required that they update the information that is reported pursuant to that statutory authority. The amendments that they adopted will better enable FSOC to assess systemic risk and better enable the Commissions to protect investors.”
See our comment letter for more information.
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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.
