SEC Adopts Investment Adviser Rules Implementing The Dodd-Frank Act

At an open meeting on June 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a number of rules implementing Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The newly adopted rules require, for the first time, certain investment advisers to register with the SEC or a state securities regulator, allow other advisers to remain unregistered, and cause yet other advisers "close to the line" to consider whether to restructure their operations to qualify for an exemption from registration. Certain advisers eligible for an exemption from registration because they advise qualifying venture capital funds or less than $150 million in qualifying private fund assets (as further described below) will nonetheless have to keep records and file annual reports with the SEC—a requirement that two Commissioners voted against. Other advisers with between $25 million and $100 million in assets under management will have to switch from SEC to