New SEC "Investment Adviser Statistics Report" Now Available to the Public
Commentary by Steven Lofchie
In a new report, SEC staff provided statistics on the investment adviser industry based on aggregated data from registration Form ADVs.
In an accompanying news release, the SEC stated that the annual report was designed to provide the public with information on the investment advisory industry "with insights into areas such as business activities, client composition, and the types of funds advised." The SEC said that the report provides historical statistics dating from 2000 through 2024, and "contains more than 50 separate tables of aggregated data." The SEC stated "[t]hat the public may download the statistics in a structured format."
SEC Chair Gary Gensler said that the SEC-published data will "help the public better understand how our economy and securities markets function."
Commentary
This is the second set of detailed statistical information as to the funds industry that the SEC released. (See, New SEC "Registered Fund Statistics Report" Now Available to the Public.) In issuing this data and the prior data, the SEC touts the value of the information to the public. However, in neither case has the SEC explained why the information is valuable to the public or how the public might use the data. In fact, the value of the information to a public investor is not obvious, and it is not at all clear what use an investor could or would make of either data set. It would be helpful if the SEC would explain how the public might use the report.
That is not to say that the data is useless. The data is of potential use to the SEC itself and to private equity firms that are interested in data on the structure of the investment advisory industry in connection with the potential acquisition of investment advisory firms.
Related Articles
-
In a new "Registered Fund Statistics" report, SEC staff provided statistics based on aggregated data from SEC-registered investment companies that file reports on their portfolio holdings.