SEC Director Mark Wyatt described the "four pillars" supporting the mission of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE"): (1) improving compliance, (2) preventing fraud, (3) monitoring risk, and (4) informing policy. In an address at the 2016 National Conference of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, he reviewed progress in these areas.

Director Wyatt reported that OCIE examinations resulted in "several notable enforcement actions," and prevented fraud with respect to wrap fee accounts and dark pools. Mr. Wyatt highlighted the OCIE's "New Registrant Initiative," which conducts focused examinations of new SEC-registered advisers, and reported that the initiative was particularly helpful in preventing fraud. Mr. Wyatt stated that the OCIE's "risk identification and investor process ensures [that] emerging business practices or innovative products and services are identified, monitored, and, if necessary, are addressed in an effective manner." He asserted that "these efforts bore fruit" by providing timely analyses of various broker-dealer contingency plans, which helped to minimize the negative effects of the UK's Brexit vote on the U.S. economy. Mr. Wyatt observed that "OCIE interfaced with the [SEC] policy divisions on over 20 rule-making initiatives" over the course of the year.

Mr. Wyatt also discussed measurements for success, emphasizing that the OCIE completed over 2,400 examinations across all program areas in fiscal year 2016. Nonetheless, he warned that the road to improved compliance is fraught with obstacles:

[I]mproving compliance in today's capital markets is not easy to measure quantitatively or qualitatively. . . . I believe OCIE can help improve compliance by providing registrants . . . with information so they can assess their own compliance programs based on their unique business model and undertake steps to develop solutions which address any potential gaps.

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