Evans Law, PC
Notes on securities regulation as it changes — what a rule does, who it binds, and what has to happen before the date it takes effect.
Regulatory updates
These are working notes for people who have to comply with something. Each one names the rule, the effective date, and what a firm actually has to do differently.
October 28, 2026
FINRA Rule 3290 replaces Rules 3270 and 3280 on October 25, 2027. It narrows reporting to investment-related activity, adds a customer-involvement assessment, and ends broker-dealer supervision of representatives’ work at unaffiliated registered investment advisers.
October 27, 2026
The SEC Division of Examinations has published its fiscal year 2027 priorities. For advisers: economic conflicts, complex products, and compliance programs. For broker-dealers: Regulation Best Interest, AML, and finders. For both: AI-driven cyberattacks and the amended Regulation S-P.
October 16, 2026
On October 15, 2026, the SEC approved FINRA’s amendment to Rule 2210 permitting broker-dealers to communicate projected performance and targeted returns, subject to written policies on the intended audience, disclosure of criteria, assumptions, risks, and limitations, and recordkeeping of the source…
October 2, 2026
On October 1, 2026, the SEC’s Division of Examinations published The SEC Exam Handbook, replacing the two-page brochure examiners have handed registrants since 1995. It sets out, step by step, how an exam is opened, run, and closed, the 180-, 30-, and 60-day deadlines, and the conduct the staff will and will not accept…
October 1, 2026
On September 30, 2026, the SEC proposed to let investment advisers charge performance fees to any accredited investor, replacing Rule 205-3’s separate net worth and assets-under-management tests, and to permit performance fees for registered funds and BDCs subject to a 20 percent cap and board findings…
October 1, 2026
On September 30, 2026, the SEC published five notices seeking comment on new ways to qualify as an accredited investor without meeting the income or net worth tests: a FINRA-developed exam, and the CPA license, CFA charter, CFP certification, and Series 79 and 86/87 licenses held in good standing…
September 14, 2026
On September 14, 2026, the SEC’s Division of Examinations published its observations on how registered investment advisers are conducting the annual compliance review required by Rule 206(4)-7. The findings fall into five groups, and none is a new obligation…
September 12, 2026
On September 9, 2026, a divided panel of the D.C. Circuit upheld the SEC’s denial of a whistleblower award to a former employee who exposed a suspected foreign bribery scheme through a journalist and then waited more than a year to bring the same information to the Commission…
September 8, 2026
On August 27, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed thirty-eight complaints in the District of Colorado against entities that, the Commission alleges, filed false Forms ADV to present themselves as legitimate…
September 2, 2026
On August 18, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a set of rules titled Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create a tailored…
