Form PF, Take Two: The SEC and CFTC Propose Further Amendments To Reporting Obligations For Private Equity and Hedge Funds

On August 10, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) jointly adopted proposed amendments to Form PF that would significantly expand reporting by private equity advisers and hedge fund advisers of both their investments and structures (the “Proposal,” available here).

The Proposal is part of an ongoing effort to bolster the SEC’s regulatory oversight of private fund advisers and investor protection efforts, while also purportedly enhancing the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel’s (“FSOC”) ability to monitor systematic risk.

Described by Commissioner Peirce as a “blossoming … tool to scrape detailed information about private funds,” the Proposal is the second proposed amendment to Form PF this year, and follows hot on the heels of two proposals to expand reporting by all advisers on publicly available Form ADV for cybersecurity incidents and ESG investments.  Lest anyone think the reporting blitz is over, the Proposal asks commentators to weigh in on adding certain proposed new reporting categories to Form ADV.  If adopted, such mass data collection, accompanied by the broad and proscriptive quarterly reporting requirements under February’s private equity rule proposal (the “PE Proposal”), portend a busy future for private fund compliance teams, most of whom are already hard at work overhauling their policies and procedures to implement 2021’s revamped Marketing Rule.

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