It is expected that Senator Chris Dodd will release his Financial Regulatory Reform bill on Monday.   Work on a bi-partisan package fell through, but it is expected that Dodd’s proposal will include several agreements made with Republican Senator Bob Corker.   The Investment Adviser Association is concerned about certain expected provisions of the bill:

The IAA is especially concerned about provisions in the bill that may address the “harmonization” of broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation and issues relating to whether fiduciary obligations should be extended to others who provide investment advice.  Although not yet certain, we expect that the Dodd legislation is likely to include provisions that require the SEC to conduct a study to (1) determine appropriate obligations of broker-dealers and investment advisers, particularly as they relate to personalized investment advice about securities to retail customers; to (2) provide for a report by the Commission to Congress in 18 months; and to (3) require a rulemaking by the SEC to address regulatory gaps and overlap in regulation identified by the study.

Like all of the financial reform bill’s that we have seen over the past 12 months, Dodd’s bill is most certainly going to include the registration of hedge fund managers.