Compliance Solutions Strategies Launches First Form CRS Software Tool in Market
New York, 8 January 2020 – Global RegTech provider Compliance Solutions Strategies (CSS) today announces its release of Form CRS Automator, the market’s first comprehensive and fully customizable software solution designed to help firms meet the upcoming requirements of Form CRS which has been introduced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CSS’s proprietary and Web-based tool gives regulated firms the ability to meet this new obligation and produce the required Form CRS quickly and efficiently.
On June 5, 2019, the SEC adopted new rules making all SEC-registered investment advisers (RIAs) and broker-dealers (BDs) that provide services to retail investors required to create a new Form ADV, Part 3, also known as a Relationship Summary. The resulting Form CRS plays a critical role in the SEC’s broader rulemaking efforts to protect Main Street investors and to address investor confusion over the differences between RIAs and BDs. The new regulations require RIAs and BDs to develop and deliver to retail investors two-page documents (or four pages for dual registrants and affiliates) allowing them to compare services, fees, conflicts of interest, and other key information about RIAs and BDs in “simple, easy-to-understand” language.
Facing a June 30, 2020 deadline, many RIAs and BDs are challenged to assemble compliant and accurate information while correctly interpreting the SEC’s strict Form CRS requirements. To streamline this process, CSS’s Form CRS Automator generates disclosure that is guaranteed to be consistent with existing regulatory filings, including more than 70 data points in Form ADV, Part 1A.
“We are excited to offer RIAs and BDs a custom tool for automating the creation of Form CRS,” stated Jackie Hallihan, Executive Director of Compliance Services at CSS. “Our Form CRS Automator solution supports efficient production of the form by deriving data from a firm’s Form ADV or Form BD or both.”
“Many regulated firms are understandably concerned about how they are going to digest the SEC’s 524-page Form CRS Adopting Release and 18 pages of instructions, ” added Keith Marks, Executive Director
of CSS’s Compliance Services. “CSS’s Form CRS Automator software solves this problem. Firms can use the solution to launch a simple process to complete a Form CRS that meets the SEC’s requirements.”
In addition to introducing Form CRS, the SEC’s June rulemaking also adopted Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), which elevates the standard of care owed by BDs to their retail customers. CSS is responding by offering its BD clients new service packages to address the resulting requirements of Reg BI.
“We were really impressed seeing such an innovative, thorough solution for the investment adviser industry,” stated Debra DeVoe, the Chief Compliance Officer of Envestnet Asset Management. “CSS really delivered on this.”