Private Funds Would Have To Disclose Crypto Under SEC, CFTC Proposal

In an effort to better monitor what US regulators perceive as systemic risks, the SEC is moving to get more insight into the dealings of private funds open to accredited investors. 

The SEC Wednesday proposed an amendment to Form PF, the confidential form via which registered investment advisers are required to disclose specific information about their security holdings. 

The Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), meanwhile, is considering proposing the same amendments, which would require funds with at least $500 million in assets under management to disclose exposure to cryptoassets. The updates also would mandate large funds to report investment concentration, as well as leverage and related trading financing.

The motion would not, however, make the additional reporting public record. Form PF is not published publicly.

The proposed rules “are designed to enhance the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC) ability to assess systemic risk as well as to bolster the SEC’s regulatory oversight of private fund advisers and its investor protection efforts in light of the growth of the private fund industry,” the SEC said in a statement.

Form PF, rolled out in 2011, previously required firms overseeing $1.5 billion or more to report aggregate holdings, geographic distribution of their investments, lending information and monthly portfolio turnover. Asset managers with $500 million or more have to disclose specific exposures, related liquidity and associated risk. 

“In the decade since the SEC and CFTC jointly adopted Form PF, regulators have gained vital insight with respect to private funds,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in the statement. “Since then, though, the private fund industry has grown in gross asset value by nearly 150% and evolved in terms of its business practices, complexity, and investment strategies.”

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the proposed amendments are not what she had in mind, claiming the new rules “would expand Form PF by adding questions of the nice to know, rather than need to know variety,” according to a statement released after the proposal announcement. 

The amendment proposal was published on the SEC’s website Wednesday, where the public has 60 days to weigh in.

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