Today, Americans for Financial Reform, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers, the Consumer Federation of America, Communications Workers of America, and U.S. PIRG urged the House of Representatives to reject the Investment Advisers Modernization Act (H.R. 5424).
H.R. 5424 would exempt private fund advisers from many basic investor protection requirements. This legislation would eliminate restrictions over advertisements containing testimonials and past recommendations, which tend to be fraudulent and misleading. In addition, it would eliminate key systemic risk information for regulators by dramatically reducing the number of funds who must report complete information on their leverage and holdings on a confidential form used to track risks to the financial system (Form PF).
At a time when the Securities and Exchange Commission has found serious investor protection issues at over half of the private equity funds they examined, Congress should be increasing oversight at private funds, not pushing dangerous deregulation.
In addition to AFR, AFSCME, AFT, CFA, and CWA, the bill is also opposed by CalPERS, CalSTRS, the Council of Institutional Investors, and UNITE HERE.