Three Key Takeaways from the 2025 ICI Tax and Accounting Conference
Jody Jonsson, Vice Chair of Capital Group and President of Capital Research and Management Company, in a fireside chat with Eric Pan, ICI President and CEO.
Over 600 tax and accounting professionals headed to Palm Desert, California for the 2025 ICI Tax and Accounting Conference (TAC)—a three-day deep dive into the trends, regulations, and innovations shaping the asset management industry. Along with expert panels and hands-on sessions, attendees made the most of networking opportunities and earned continuing education credits.
Here are three standout themes from this year’s event:
Panelists in conversation during the Regulatory Updates in a Deregulatory World panel.
1. ICI is capitalizing on the changing leadership in Washington to drive industry advocacy.
In a regulatory priorities panel moderated by ICI General Counsel Paul Cellupica, he emphasized how ICI is seizing the moment in Washington and moving forward with requests for guidance. He highlighted some of ICI’s recent advocacy wins, and the panelists commented on how industry advocacy is fomenting innovation in the regulated funds space.
One such advocacy priority is Rule 17a-7. Cellupica noted how modernizing Rule 17a-7, to permit registered funds to cross trade fixed-income securities once again, would significantly benefit funds and investors through lower transaction costs and more efficient portfolio management. In a recent comment letter to the SEC, ICI outlined our recommendations to modernize the rule.
He also pointed to the growing discussion around registered funds’ access to alternative investments, including private funds, following recent actions from the SEC and the White House.
ICI Chief Government Affairs and Public Policy Officer Tom Quaadman and PwC Partner Pete Driscoll during a fireside chat on regulation.
2. Crypto, corporate governance, and proxy issues are top of mind in Washington.
PwC’s Pete Driscoll, a 20+ year veteran of the SEC, discussed the dynamics driving regulation in Washington with ICI’s Chief Government Affairs and Public Policy Officer Tom Quaadman. He observed that the White House is currently very focused on the SEC and digital assets. With the SEC’s latest agenda, the agency is putting “in place frameworks to have this digital asset, crypto environment in a legal way,” creating “a market structure for the digital asset space.”
Tom Quaadman pointed to momentum on many of the issues ICI has advocated for, including the Generating Retirement Ownership Through Long-Term Holding Act, the Financial Exploitation Prevention Act, the Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act, and the Access to Small Business Investor Capital Act, as well as efforts to modernize the Investment Company Act of 1940 through ICI’s Reimagining the 1940 Act blueprint.
ICI Chief Economist Shelly Antoniewicz in conversation with Jared Franz, Partner and U.S. Economist at Capital Group.
3. The market has remained dynamic despite recent volatility.
In addition to regulatory and advocacy updates, macroeconomic trends were an overarching theme across many panels. During a fireside chat on the future of asset management with Eric J. Pan, President and CEO of ICI, Jody Jonsson, Vice Chair of Capital Group and President of Capital Research and Management Company, praised the market’s “extraordinary resilience” amid uncertainty.
In a later panel entitled “Macroeconomic Moves: Trade, Tariffs, and Fund Impacts,” ICI’s Chief Economist Shelly Antoniewicz shared ICI economic research and noted that competing concerns are clouding the long-term economic outlook. Despite the volatility related to trade sanctions and the government shutdown, she highlighted that inflation has remained relatively stable, but consumer spending has weakened.
If you missed any of the conference panels, select sessions will be available on-demand to registered participants.
Join us September 27–30 for the 2026 TAC, which will be held in Marco Island, FL!