2026年投资管理监管展望报告

Message from the Looking ahead to what 2026 may hold for firms,technological and product innovation—driven byregulatory openness—will likely be the predominantfactors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)continues to allow firms more time to implement new Balancing product innovation andinvestor protection Like 2025, we expect that firms will be navigating delicateeconomic conditions in 2026 along with a more rapidlyshifting competitive landscape accelerated by theregulatory trends discussed herein. We hope our outlook The regulatory environment for investmentmanagement shifted quickly and significantly in 2025.For 2026, we have focused our outlook on three core Sincerely, Throughout our outlook, we explore key developmentsunder each of these topics and answer the questions: While the SEC recalibrated its approach to enforcementin 2025, disbanding its digital assets enforcement team,reallocating resources from enforcement to examinations,and dropping its electronic communications sweep—new •What happened? Maria Gattuso Irena Gecas-McCarthy FSI Director, DeloitteCenter for RegulatoryStrategy (DCRS), USPrincipal Investment ManagementLeader, DCRSPrincipal •How should firms respond? Meghan Burns Manager Five big questions, insights, and actions Innovation The SEC is also taking a look at the accredited investordefinition more broadly and recently began offeringexchange-traded fund (ETF) share class relief via anexemptive order that allows a registered open-end fund Partnership between firms that specialize in privatemarket strategies and those that specialize in retailproducts could be an ideal way for firms to seize thisemerging opportunity. Firms engaging in new activities Product innovation What happened? Product innovation will likely be a major trend in theinvestment management industry in 2026, and we expectmuch of it will be driven by regulatory developmentsand client demand. In August 2025, President Trumpsigned Executive Order (EO) 14330, “DemocratizingAccess to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.”4The EO established a US policy to enable retirement Why is it important? The regulatory environment in 2026 aims to facilitate awave of product innovation and expanded retail accessto private market strategies. Firms should find ways toparticipate, finding new investors or offering existing Digital assets What happened? On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed an EO on“Strengthening American Leadership in Digital FinancialTechnology.”9The executive order sought to repositionthe US federal government approach to cryptocurrencyand blockchain technology. The SEC, which previously The EO directed the Department of Labor to reexamineits guidance regarding a fiduciary’s duties under ERISAregarding allocations to alternative assets and the DOLhas since withdrawn its prior guidance.5The EO alsodirects the SEC to find ways to facilitate retail investor How should firms respond? Bringing private market investments to retail investorswill involve partnership between firms that specializein different assets and investor classes. Identifyingnew product structures and distribution channels will In short order, the agency issued guidance to excludeentire categories of digital assets from federal securitiesregulations including meme coins, staking activities, andstablecoins.11The SEC also withdrew Staff AccountingBulletin (SAB) 121, which had required digital asset For years, the two agencies have played a central rolein setting the tone for US policy for digital asset andcryptocurrency activities in the US financial markets.Under the leadership of Chair Atkins, the SEC now seeksto foster the use of blockchain technology in the USfinancial markets and has begun adopting policies toallow experimentation including by issuing frequently On October 21, the Department of Commerce issued itsrequest for information encouraging companies to issue How should firms respond? As digital assets (e.g., stablecoins, cryptocurrencies)become more integrated into the financial system andexperimentation with tokenized securities evolves,advisers and firms will need to stay current on availableofferings, the competitive landscape, and interactionacross asset classes. If firms experiment with use casesfor things like collateral management, risk management SEC staff signaled in remarks at the 2025 SEC Speaksconference that, moving forward, the agency’s approachto regulating AI would be via its existing ruleset ratherthan through new rulemaking as had been contemplated Why is it important? The Trump administration’s overarching policy towardAI centers on promoting the use of “American Made” AI.The Department of Commerce’s American AI Exportsprogram will facilitate private industry with establishinga global presence for technology packages that qualifythrough the program. These “full stack” technologypackages—to be developed by industry consortia—are Why is it important? The approach being pu