What Value Do You Offer Your Clients?

Now is the time to double down on your compliance investment. Market volatility means that clients are watching closely, scrutinizing value, questioning fees, and expecting transparency. Without the right compliance processes woven into your daily operations, you’re leaving your firm exposed to risk, regulatory scrutiny, and a damaged reputation.

Compliance isn’t just about having policies on paper; it’s about ensuring those policies are embedded in your operations. That means working hand-in-hand with your ops team to streamline workflows, test systems, and catch issues before regulators or clients do. Increased market volatility is followed by an increase in client complaints, so firms must focus on communication, proactively showing value, checking in regularly, and asking how you can better serve.

Not sure what you need to do if you do receive a client complaint? Let’s get into it in this month’s issue of A Little Bit Of Leila.

Key Updates:

• The SEC has a new Chairman! Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office on April 21st as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• There has been regulatory action taken against firms for failing to fulfil their fiduciary duty
• FINRA is asking member firms for feedback on how they can modernise their regulatory processes.

My Take:

Paul Atkins was previously involved with the SEC. Chairman Atkins was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008. During his tenure, he advocated for transparency, consistency, and the use of cost-benefit analysis at the agency. Chairman Atkins also represented the SEC at meetings of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council. This gives us some good insights as to how he will act as a chairman under the current administration. It is also important to note that, as of this moment, rules have been rolled back (namely the ESG related rules). What we have seen is compliance dates extended allow the industry a little bit of breathing room as we transition from one Chairman to another.

Do use this moment to take a breath. Don’t use this moment as an excuse to ignore your compliance. There are new rules that require extensive testing to be implemented properly by their 2026 compliance dates. Stay on top of these, because otherwise, there might be a spike in enforcement actions taken in 2026 when firms fail to comply. Now is not the time to stop investing in compliance, because it’s what is going to protect you in the term.

Ask Leila

Question: What do I need to do if a client raises a complaint against me or my firm?

Answer: Don’t sit on it.  Address quickly and swiftly to mitigate any potential risk and liability.  Let the client know that you take their concerns seriously and will be investigating their claims. Document your investigation.  Review client notes, communications and interview the advisor.  Also speak with the client and get their version of the facts. Based on the information you gather, determine whether there has been any violation of the firm’s policies and procedures or any state or federal law.  Document your findings and let the client know your findings.

Responsible Entrepreneurs

“I had a new team member start, and I didn’t have time to train her properly. I enrolled us both in RIA Compliance University, which provided structured training for her while serving as an excellent refresher for me. The templates alone saved us countless hours.” — CCO of $5 billion AUM Firm

Don’t have time to train your compliance team? Or simply don’t have the cash flow to entirely outsource your compliance processes? Our on-demand compliance training could be just what you need. Purchase the modules that you need to make sure that you’ve got all your boxes ticked. From compliance manuals to cybersecurity, our compliance training covers everything from the basics and shows you how to implement it in a way that works for your firm. Find out more about our training options here.

Snapshot

What’s hot in the world of finance and compliance right now? What has the first 100 days of the new administration really meant for our industry? We cover this and more in the final episode of season 1 of the REGULATE THIS! Podcast. Tracie and I have a candid conversation about what you should be focusing on and what you need to be aware of going forward.

Listen to the full episode here.