A new online version of Form 13F is scheduled to be made accessible on the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) filing website on Monday, May 20, 2013. Form 13F, also known as the Information Required of Institutional Investment Managers Form, is a quarterly report filed to the SEC that applies to institutional investment managers who have investment discretion on over $100 million in qualified securities. According to the SEC, an “institutional investment manager” may include a variety of entities, including banks, insurance companies, pension funds, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and other corporations.
The SEC’s original notice posted the new Form 13F launch date as Monday, April 29, 2013, which sets the launch back 3 weeks from its intended implementation date. Filers may be able to continue to use the current form until Friday, May 17, while filers after that date must use the online form and construct the Form’s Information Tables according to the guidelines defined in EDGAR’s Form 13F XML Technical Specification. An institutional investment manager is required to file a Form 13F within 45 days of the conclusion of each quarter (though the NYSE and a group of investor relations groups have recently petitioned the SEC to limit the time for filing from 45 days to 2 days after the quarter ends, arguing that the long filing period interferes with the release of timely information to shareholders).
The launch of the new Form 13F is highly anticipated, particularly because the new form attempts to “simplify the filing process” and “help filers avoid technical errors.” What remains to be seen is how effective these changes will be in the filing process, and whether the new Form 13F will additionally benefit shareholders and companies in receiving more accurate information on quarterly asset changes by investment managers. For more information, or for assistance on other compliance topics, please contact us at (619) 278-0020 to schedule a consultation.