Current Month (November 2025)
SEC Division of Examinations Announces 2026 Examination Priorities
By Karen Liu, Reid & Wise LLC
On November 17, 2025, the Division of Examinations (“Division”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its annual Examination Priorities for Fiscal Year 2026 (“2026 Priorities”).
The 2026 Priorities reiterate the Division’s continued focus on core areas of examination such as fiduciary standards of conduct, conflicts of interest, dual registrants, recently registered entities, never-examined entities, and protection of retail investors. Compared with last year’s Examination Priorities, the 2026 Priorities, among other things, highlight the following changes:
- Examination for compliance with new rules, such as the 2024 amendments to Regulation S-P (which has compliance dates of December 3, 2025, for larger entities and June 3, 2026, for smaller entities) and the amended fund “Names Rule” (which has compliance dates of June 11, 2026, for larger fund groups and December 11, 2026, for smaller fund groups).
- No mention of “Crypto Assets” as an exam focus area. However, it is worth noting that in the SEC’s rulemaking agenda for Spring 2025 released on September 4, 2025, two proposed rules are directly crypto-related, and three proposed rules also cover crypto assets.
- Absence of “Examinations of Advisers to Private Funds” as a dedicated exam focus. However, the 2026 Priorities include areas such as private credit and private funds with investment lock-up for extended periods, advisers to private funds that are also advising separately managed accounts and/or newly registered funds, advisers to newly launched private funds, and advisers that have not previously advised private funds.
- Customized exam focus depending on a registrant’s practices or products, such as for investment advisers with activist engagement practices, whether they are making late or inaccurate filings on Schedules 13D and 13G; Form 13F; Forms 3, 4, and 5; and Form N-PX.
- With respect to registered investment companies (“RICs”), those participating in mergers or similar transactions, those using complex or novel strategies, and those having leverage vulnerabilities.
- With respect to broker dealers, prime brokerage activities, extended hours trading practices, and recommendations related to tax-advantaged products, illiquid assets, and moving an investment in a substantially similar product.
- With respect to compliance with Regulation S-ID, the importance of developing and implementing a written Identity Theft Prevention Program.
- With respect to cybersecurity, new risks associated with artificial intelligence (“AI”).
- Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities (“SBSEFs”) as a new exam priority.
The 2026 Priorities reflect the Division’s shifted focus for Fiscal Year 2026, but they are not the only areas the Division will address in examinations. In the SEC’s press release, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins emphasized the importance of the 2026 Priorities to “enable firms to prepare to have a constructive dialogue with SEC examiners and provide transparency into the priorities of the agency’s most public-facing division.”
