Even legitimate products and sales practices can be problematic for seniors, meaning that even IARs with the best intentions have received deficiency letters and fines. Meanwhile, well-meaningIARs can demonstrate a lack of sensitivity to senior clients and their unique issues. And even worse,as has been demonstrated in recent examinations'others have deliberately exploited thisvulnerability, and scams targeting older investors are on the rise. IAR Senior Protection: Ethical Sales & Account Practices reviews the unethical, fraudulent and misleading activities discoveredduring regulatory examinations initiated by industry regulators and outlined in the SEC's National Senior Investor Initiative Report, the 2019 SEC Examination of Investment Advisers, and NASAA'sInvestment Adviser Coordinated Exams reports in 2021 and 2023. The course highlights how to adjust the advising approach for seniors and the unique factors to consider so that recommendations are in your senior clients' best interest. It explains The NASAA Model Act to Protect Vulnerable Adults from Financial Exploitation, which, when adopted as regulation or *** continued on Timed Outline
Investment Adviser Representative: Overview of Alternative Investments provides an overview ofalternative investments and the elements that investment adviser representatives must consider, including their risks, time horizons, investment minimums, fees, suitability/best interest assessmentsand investor goals and perspectives. Since alternative investments are more lightly regulated by theSEC than traditional investments, are complex products, and have a relative lack of liquidity, manyalternative investment assets are considered appropriate only for institutional investors or the accredited, high-net-worth individuals considered capable of evaluating them. Many alternative investments also have high minimum investments and fee structures as compared to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). IARs have a fiduciary duty and an enhanced need tounderstand these complex investments to best serve customers.
We expect technology to make things easier by doing the work for us'but ethical issues can behidden when humans are taken out of the loop. Because what is right or wrong in the securities industry is still right or wrong, regardless of the tools you use. Even in this wild west era of Artificial Intelligence, the SEC has tools to enforce AI-related misconduct even without adoption of AI-specific SEC rules. And while ignorance of developing law is no excuse, compliance becomes moredifficult because the very nature of AI is its inscrutability. This means, for IARs, an enhanceddiligence towards compliance when using artificial intelligence is an ethical requirement and partof your fiduciary duty to clients. This course, The Ethics of AI steps through what AI is, how itlearns, how it can perform in the financial services industry, and, ultimately, how human advisersare ethically responsible on several levels for the outcome of this mysterious but fully real tool they are using to enhance business. It ends with a recent action against IA firms for 'AI whitewashing.'
Investment advisers and their representatives take on specific obligations in helping customers workthrough the bewildering range of investment offerings. Under the SEC's Investment Advisers Act of1940 and even state rules and regulations, an investment adviser registered under the '40 Act must adopt a Code of Ethics to establish the business conduct standards expected of the IA's supervisedpersons. The Code should reflect the investment adviser's fiduciary obligations to its investment advisory clients and require compliance with the federal securities laws. Many states have similarethical requirements. This course examines the expected and ideal behavior demonstrated by the investment advisers who put their clients first and uphold the standards of the profession-as well asscenarios that reveal the disappointing and unethical behavior of those who fail their fiduciary obligations. This course is not to supersede any firm's Code of Ethics but examines the origin ofof the responsibilities IAs assume when working with clients.