SEC’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda: New Rules Are Coming

On July 7, 2026, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins issued a statement regarding the SEC’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda. The agenda reflects the Commission’s current emphasis on modernization, regulatory relief, technological innovation, capital formation, digital assets, and expanded retail access to private markets.

Several of the planned initiatives could directly affect SEC-registered investment advisers. Others may affect only private fund advisers, registered fund advisers, or firms with particular business models.

Importantly, the agenda does not change any current requirements, but it makes it clear that additional rulemaking is coming and that firms should be prepared for regulatory changes beginning in 2027 and beyond.

What Happens After an October 2026 Proposal?

An October 2026 target generally means the SEC expects to issue a proposed rule by then. It does not mean the rule will be final or that compliance will begin.

After a proposal is issued, the SEC typically opens a public comment period, reviews the comments, considers revisions, and then determines whether to adopt a final rule. Any final rule would establish its own effective date and, where applicable, a separate compliance date.

The immediate takeaway is that additional rulemaking is coming, but firms should wait for the actual proposals before making policy or procedural changes.

Investment Adviser Recordkeeping and Electronic Communications

The SEC is considering amendments to Rule 204-2 to address the scope of electronic communications that investment advisers must retain, compliance burdens associated with those records, and technological developments that have occurred since the rule was adopted. The proposal is targeted for October 2026 and is identified as deregulatory.

Potential Effect on firms

This may be one of the most significant agenda items for traditional advisory firms.

Advisers currently must determine which emails, text messages, collaboration platform messages, social media communications, AI interactions, and other electronic communications relate to the firm’s advisory business and must be retained.

The proposal may provide greater clarity regarding which communications must be preserved. It could potentially distinguish substantive business communications from duplicative, administrative, or transitory messages. It may also address newer technologies, personal devices, messaging applications, AI tools, and third-party archiving systems.

Because the initiative is classified as deregulatory, the SEC may be considering a narrower or more practical recordkeeping standard rather than simply expanding the categories of records firms must retain.

For now, however, advisors should continue enforcing existing electronic communications and off-channel communications policies. The agenda does not provide relief from current Rule 204-2 requirements.

State-registered advisers should also monitor this initiative, as many states have adopted books-and-records requirements similar to the federal rule.

Custody Rule Modernization

The SEC is considering amendments to the custody requirements under both the Investment Advisers Act and the Investment Company Act. The stated goals include modernizing custody requirements, clarifying the treatment of crypto assets, and removing burdens associated with outdated provisions. The proposal is targeted for October 2026 and is also classified as deregulatory.

Potential Effect on RIAs

This initiative may affect advisers that:

• Deduct advisory fees from client accounts.

• Have authority to transfer client assets.

• Use standing letters of authorization.

• Advise private funds.

• Manage privately offered securities or other alternative assets.

• Manage crypto assets or tokenized securities.

• Use newer or specialized custody arrangements.

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The SEC’s 2023 Safeguarding Rule proposal would have expanded the existing Custody Rule from client funds and securities to nearly all client assets. It would also have imposed additional requirements on advisers and qualified custodians.

Based on the new agenda’s deregulatory classification and its focus on removing outdated burdens, the current Commission may propose a narrower framework than the 2023 proposal. The SEC could withdraw or substantially revise portions of the earlier proposal while providing more specific rules for crypto assets, tokenized securities, privately offered securities, and assets that cannot readily be maintained by a traditional custodian.

Traditional advisors that hold client assets through established broker-dealer custodians may experience limited changes. Private fund advisers, advisers to alternative assets, and firms with asset-transfer authority should follow the proposal closely.

Pay-to-Play Reform

The SEC plans to propose amendments to Rule 206(4)-5 to address identified compliance burdens. The rule generally prohibits an adviser from receiving compensation from a government entity for 2 years after the adviser or a covered associate makes certain political contributions. The proposed amendments are targeted for October 2026.

Potential Effect on Advisors

This rule is most relevant to advisers that manage or seek:

• Public pension assets.

• Government retirement plan assets.

• State or municipal investment mandates.

• Investments from government entities in private funds.

• Other government advisory business.

Current compliance programs often include political contribution preclearance, employee certifications, contribution searches, new-hire lookbacks, covered associate tracking, and specialized records.

The agenda does not identify the specific changes being considered. Potential reforms could address existing contribution limits, the definition of a covered associate, lookback periods, the correction of inadvertent contributions, recordkeeping, or circumstances in which a contribution has no apparent connection to the award of advisory business.

The SEC is unlikely to eliminate the rule’s core prohibition against using political contributions to influence the selection of advisers for government business. The rule was adopted to ensure that advisers are selected on merit and to protect public pension plans and their beneficiaries from pay-to-play arrangements.

The agenda states only that the SEC is considering amendments to address “identified compliance burdens.” Based on prior public criticism of the rule, potential relief could include revisiting the low de minimis contribution limits, the automatic two-year compensation prohibition, covered associate and new-hire lookback provisions, and the limited ability to correct an inadvertent contribution. The Commission could also consider whether the rule should provide greater flexibility when a contribution was unrelated to obtaining government business, and there is no evidence of an actual pay-to-play arrangement. These possibilities remain speculative until the SEC issues the proposed amendments.

Advisers that do not manage, seek, or solicit government entity business, including investments from public pension plans, are unlikely to experience a significant direct impact.

Performance Fees and Retail Access to Private Markets

The SEC is considering a proposal that would both facilitate retail investors' exposure to private markets through registered investment companies and allow investment advisers to charge performance fees to a broader group of clients. The proposal is targeted for October 2026.

Potential Effect on Advisers

The performance fee component could affect advisers that manage private funds, separately managed accounts, hedge fund strategies, private equity funds, or other arrangements involving incentive compensation.

Current law generally limits performance fees to qualified clients and certain other eligible investors. The SEC may consider expanding eligibility based on investor sophistication, professional experience, institutional status, investment knowledge, or other criteria, rather than relying exclusively on assets under management or net worth.

This could provide additional flexibility for advisers using performance-based compensation. However, the actual scope of any expansion will not be known until the proposal is issued.

The private markets component may create additional opportunities for registered funds to invest in private equity, private credit, venture capital, real assets, and other non-public investments. This could increase the number of private-market products available to retail wealth management clients.

For advisers, expanded availability will also increase the importance of product due diligence. Firms will need to evaluate valuation practices, liquidity constraints, repurchase restrictions, expenses, conflicts of interest, portfolio concentration, and the appropriateness of the investment for the client’s objectives, liquidity needs, time horizon, and risk tolerance.

Greater access to private markets will not reduce an adviser’s fiduciary obligations.

Electronic Delivery of Required Information

The SEC is considering rules that would modernize the electronic delivery of information required under the federal securities laws and reduce costs associated with paper delivery. The proposal is targeted for October 2026.

Potential Effect on Advisers

The scope of this proposal is not yet clear. It may primarily address registered fund prospectuses, shareholder reports, and other investment company documents. However, it could potentially affect adviser delivery requirements involving Form ADV brochures, brochure supplements, Form CRS, privacy notices, advisory agreement amendments, and other client disclosures.

One possible approach would be to permit electronic delivery as the default, while allowing investors to request paper documents. If the SEC moves in that direction, firms would still need procedures addressing invalid email addresses, bounced messages, evidence of delivery, client preferences, access to documents, cybersecurity, and record retention.

Until a final rule is adopted, advisers should continue following existing delivery requirements. Posting a disclosure on a website does not necessarily satisfy a regulatory delivery obligation.

Form PF Reporting Relief

The Form PF initiative is further along than the other adviser-related agenda items. The SEC and CFTC issued the proposal on April 20, 2026, following what the agencies described as a comprehensive review of the entire form. The proposal is the Form PF initiative identified in the current Regulatory Agenda, rather than a preliminary step toward a separately listed proposal.

The proposed amendments would raise the general Form PF filing threshold from $150 million to $1 billion in private fund assets under management and increase the large hedge fund adviser reporting threshold from $1.5 billion to $10 billion.

The proposal would also make broader changes to the information collected and the manner in which it is reported. These changes include eliminating certain look-through requirements, performance volatility reporting, current reporting events, and quarterly event reporting by private equity fund advisers. The proposal would also simplify certain counterparty exposure reporting, feeder fund reporting, trading and clearing information, and other requirements. It would retain the collection of information intended to identify funds active in the private credit market.

This proposal applies only to SEC-registered advisers to private funds that are subject to Form PF.

If finalized substantially as proposed, many smaller private fund advisers would no longer be required to file Form PF. Other advisers could benefit from reduced reporting, data aggregation, vendor, legal, and compliance costs. Advisers remaining subject to the form may also benefit from the elimination or simplification of several detailed reporting requirements.

The public comment period ended June 23, 2026. The SEC and CFTC will now consider the comments and determine whether to adopt the amendments as proposed, modify them, or issue a revised proposal. The current Regulatory Agenda does not identify a separate additional Form PF proposal or provide a target date for final action.

However, additional changes could emerge through the current rulemaking process. Commissioner Hester Peirce specifically requested public input on whether other Form PF thresholds should be revised, whether thresholds should be adjusted periodically, and whether additional reporting questions should be eliminated or modified. Therefore, the final amendments could be broader, narrower, or otherwise different from the April proposal.

Separately, the compliance date for Form PF amendments adopted in 2024 remains October 1, 2026. Those amendments have not been rescinded, and the pending proposal does not, by itself, postpone or eliminate the current compliance obligation.

The SEC and CFTC may need to take additional action to reconcile the 2024 amendments with the pending 2026 proposal, but private fund advisers should not assume that further relief will be provided unless the agencies formally act.

What Advisers Should Do Now

The agenda does not require immediate policy changes. Advisers should continue complying with all current rules while identifying which proposals could affect their operations.

Firms should monitor the proposed rule language, evaluate the potential operational impact, and work with their internal or outsourced compliance professional to stay informed as proposals develop, comment periods close, and final rules are adopted.

Once a rule is finalized, firms should assess any required changes to policies, procedures, disclosures, contracts, books and records, training, and supervisory practices.

The 2026 agenda reflects a significant change in regulatory direction. The current Commission appears focused on modernizing older rules, reducing unnecessary burdens, accommodating technological and market developments, and expanding investment opportunities.

Whether these initiatives result in meaningful relief will depend on the actual language of the proposed and final rules. For now, the appropriate response is to monitor, evaluate, and prepare, but not to assume that any current requirement has changed.

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Coulter Strategic Services provides customized compliance and regulatory consulting to SEC-registered and state-registered investment advisers throughout the United States. Services are tailored to each firm’s structure, business model, client base, regulatory obligations, and risk profile to support an effective, practical, and sustainable compliance program.

CSS assists investment advisory firms with compliance program reviews, annual reviews, policies and procedures, Form ADV and Form CRS reviews, custody rule considerations, Marketing Rule reviews, regulatory filings, mock examination preparation, employee training, books-and-records requirements, regulatory education, and ongoing compliance support.

For investment advisers seeking experienced compliance consulting support, Coulter Strategic Services can help identify practical steps to strengthen the firm’s compliance program and better align its policies, disclosures, and practices with current regulatory requirements and expectations.

Contact Coulter Strategic Services to discuss your firm’s compliance needs or learn more at https://www.coulterstrategicservices.com/

This material is provided for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, regulatory, or compliance advice specific to any investment adviser. Any projections, expectations, interpretations, predictions, or discussion of potential regulatory developments reflect the opinion of the author based on publicly available information as of the publication date. They do not represent statements, conclusions, commitments, or views of the SEC, CFTC, any state securities regulator, or any other federal or state regulatory agency, governmental body, or industry association.

Proposed rules may be revised, delayed, withdrawn, reproposed, or not adopted. No firm should rely on a regulatory agenda, proposed rule, public statement, or prediction as if it were a final rule or current compliance requirement.

While efforts have been made to provide accurate and current information, regulatory developments and third-party information may become outdated, incomplete, or materially inaccurate without notice. Coulter Strategic Services and its staff do not provide legal opinions, legal recommendations, or legal advice. Investment advisers should consult qualified legal counsel, as appropriate, regarding their specific facts and circumstances.

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