SEC IM Director Norm Champ Delivers Remarks at the Independent Directors Council Annual Fall Meeting
In a speech before the Independent Directors Council, SEC Director of the Division of Investment Management ("Division") Norm Champ focused on the following key items: (i) the role of independent directors in protecting investors, (ii) improvement initiatives within the Division, with particular focus on the newly created Risk and Examinations Office, and (iii) communication between independent directors and the Division regarding fund governance.
Director Champ outlined the central role of mutual funds for the average American investor. In emphasizing the SEC's main mission of "protecting investors, ensuring fair and orderly markets, and promoting capital formation" through the regulation of the asset management industry, Champ emphasized shared efforts between the regulators and independent directors who oversee funds to protect their shareholders.
In his discussion of Division initiatives, Champ spoke at great length about the role of the newly created Risk and Examinations Office ("REO"), outlining two primary ways through which the REO supports the Division's work.
- The REO maintains an industry monitoring program that provides ongoing financial analysis of the investment management industry (namely, monitoring activities of investment companies, investment advisers and investment products).
- The REO intends to conduct rigorous quantitative and qualitative financial analysis of the investment management industry, with a particular focus on strategically important investment advisers and funds.
Director Champ went on to outline how independent directors and the SEC should cooperate in the future, both for the sake of individual investors and for the system as a whole.
See: Text of Norm Champ's Speech before the Independent Directors Council's Fall Meeting.