Applicability of the Investment Advisers Act to Financial Planners, Pension Consultants, and Other Persons Who Provide Investment Advisory Services as a Component of Other Financial Services

The Commissions is publishing the views of the staff of the Division of Investment Management as to the applicability of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to financial planners, pension consultants, and other person who, as an integral component of other financially related services, provide investment advisory services to others for compensation. The purpose of this release is to call to the attention of persons providing such services, as well as members of the general public who may utilize such services, the circumstances under which persons providing these services would be investment advisers under the Advisers Act and subject to the Act’s registration, antifraud and other provisions. The guidance provided in this release should assist providers of financial advisory services in complying with the Advisers Act and reduce the number of requests for staff interpretive or no-action advice with respect to the applicability of the Advisers Act to such persons where the requests do not present any novel factual or interpretive issues. With one exception the interpretive views set forth in the release are based on positions consistently taken by the staff in the past. In the case of the one exception the position articulated in the release may have the effect of excepting from the definition of investment adviser certain persons the staff would not regard as being in the business of providing investment advice.