NASAA Seeks to Ease Investment Adviser Advertising Rules to Align With SEC

The North American Securities Administrators Association, or NASAA, has initiated a public comment period on proposed amendments to its rules governing investment adviser advertising. This move aims to modernize state-level regulations and align them more closely with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently updated marketing rule.

The proposed amendments represent a substantial shift for state-registered investment advisers, who have historically operated under stricter advertising guidelines than their federally regulated counterparts. The SEC’s marketing rule, adopted in 2020, brought about notable changes by conditionally permitting the use of testimonials, endorsements, third-party ratings, and certain forms of performance advertising – practices largely prohibited under existing NASAA rules.

“These proposed amendments reflect NASAA’s efforts to provide a model for updates to state investment adviser advertising rules based in part on changes made by the SEC to marketing rules for SEC-registered advisers,” stated Leslie Van Buskirk, NASAA’s president.

A key driver behind the proposed changes is addressing the potential competitive disadvantage faced by state-registered advisers. With federal advisers now having broader leeway in their marketing communications, NASAA recognizes the need to level the playing field.

The proposed amendments, if adopted by individual states, would rescind existing prohibitions that conflict with the SEC’s framework. This means state-registered advisers could potentially use testimonials and endorsements, feature third-party ratings, and present performance data.

Regarding the latter, the rules around presenting performance results are expected to become more flexible, though stringent requirements for fairness, balance, and clear disclosure of net performance alongside gross performance will remain paramount.

This initiative follows previous NASAA efforts to align state rules with federal standards, including recent amendments to address the misleading use of “advisor” or “adviser” titles by unregistered broker-dealers, harmonizing with the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest, or Reg BI.

Investment advisers, industry professionals, and the public are encouraged to review the proposed amendments and submit their comments to NASAA on or before Aug. 28, 2025.

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