SEC taps veteran to run unit that oversees PE, other funds

SEC Chair Mary Jo White unveiled the decision during an appearance early Friday, May 8, at a conference held by the Investment Company Institute, the leading trade group for the mutual fund sector.

Grim has already been serving as acting director of the Division of Investment Management since February, after its prior director Norman Champ departed.

Unlike previous directors in recent SEC history, Grim has not worked extensively in the industry.

The SEC’s Division of Investment Management is in charge of writing rules for mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, hedge funds and private equity funds.

Grim will serve as director at a time when the division is working to prepare a series of sweeping new rules for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

Last December, White unveiled a three-pronged plan as part of a broader attempt to get a handle on potentially risky activities that could put the market in harm’s way.

The new rules, which are still being drafted, will call for more data collection of fund activities, as well as new requirements to beef up internal risk controls and rules to create transition plans in the event funds must unwind and transfer client assets.

The SEC has been under pressure from the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), a panel of regulators tasked with policing the market for systemic risks.

The FSOC has been conducting its own review of products and activities in the asset management space to see if they pose risks.

Previously, the FSOC also put pressure on the SEC to adopt new reforms to rein in the risk of investor runs on money market mutual funds.