Cybersecurity is Top Concern for Compliance Professionals

The 2019 Investment Management Compliance Testing Survey, conducted jointly by the Investment Adviser Association and ACA Compliance Group, gathered opinions from compliance professionals at 369 investment advisers, a majority of whom (83%) rated cybersecurity as the “hottest” compliance topic. For the sixth year in a row, cybersecurity remained the biggest compliance concern at registered advisers and 70 percent of survey participants indicated that their firms increased compliance testing in this area over the past year.  Compliance professionals ranked issues relating to advertising and marketing as the second hottest compliance topic (28 percent). Other areas of concern identified by respondents were issues relating to data privacy, with 23 percent of survey respondents identifying it as the third hottest topic. The 2019 survey, conducted online throughout May, also found fees and expenses and MiFID II to be areas of concern for compliance professionals.