Keeping Our Neighborhood Clean

ICI President's Remarks

Eric J. Pan
President and CEO
Investment Company Institute

Compliance, Risk and Legal Conference 
Nashville, Tennessee

September 16, 2026

(As prepared for delivery)

ICI President and CEO Eric J. Pan provides opening remarks at the inaugural ICI Compliance, Risk, and Legal Conference in Nashville, Tennessee

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. On behalf of the Investment Company Institute, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our inaugural Compliance, Risk, and Legal Conference.

We’ve created this conference for a simple reason—because your work matters. The fund industry has always depended on a strong culture of regulatory compliance, sound risk analysis, and legal excellence. This is not merely a characteristic of our industry but an essential ingredient. The investors we serve are in large part retail investors and middle-class households who rely on the quality of our members to safeguard the health of their future financial security. 

We are living through an era of dramatic change—in the economy, in government policy, and in geopolitics. Investing is growing more complicated by the day, and as a result, compliance, risk, and legal matters are becoming interconnected. In this new era, our collaboration is essential to unleashing innovation and helping more people responsibly achieve their long-term financial goals. 

You are here because you are committed to deepening that collaboration and serving investors at the highest level. I want to acknowledge your dedication, and the difference you already make. Thank you for keeping asset management on such a firm footing. Thank you for giving investors so many reasons to trust our industry.

Investor trust is at the heart of everything you do. Asset management, perhaps more than any other industry, depends on maintaining a strong reputation for sticking to the straight and narrow. No young family will entrust their long-term financial planning to a firm that acts in questionable ways. No soon-to-be-retiree will keep faith with a business that plays fast and loose with their hard-earned savings. Investors of all ages and incomes are counting on us to be above reproach and to prudently manage innovation and risk. 

We earn investors’ trust by continually keeping our neighborhood clean. This isn’t just a matter of following the law, as important as that is. We hold ourselves to even higher standards because we understand our fiduciary duty to be good stewards. We genuinely want to police ourselves and improve our practices, because that’s what gives current and future generations the confidence to invest.

Each of you plays a pivotal role in keeping the neighborhood clean. It’s not always the most glamorous work, but it is the most essential work, and this conference demonstrates that ICI is your valued partner. We have been the asset management industry’s voice for more than 85 years, yet advocacy is just one part of how we serve your firms. We are just as active in helping our members manage compliance, risk, and legal issues so you can overcome challenges and embrace innovation.

This conference is one of the many ways ICI helps you stay ahead of change. Over the next few days, we’ll explore emerging issues, hear how different firms are addressing common challenges, and gain practical perspectives on how risk is evaluated and translated into action. Equally important, you'll have the chance to connect with colleagues across the industry, exchange ideas, and learn from one another's experiences. Those conversations are often just as valuable as the sessions themselves.

At ICI, we also provide research and analysis that can help you stay ahead of change. In recent months, we have published white papers on private credit valuation governance and[DC1]  tokenization, two areas that are generating significant interest across the asset management industry. These papers examine new opportunities as well as the operational, valuation, compliance, and governance questions they raise. Even if your firm is not directly involved in these areas, our research and analysis can help you better understand where the industry is headed, so you can evaluate the risks and rewards that are coming down the pike.

We also continue to develop practical resources on issues that affect your everyday work. To choose just one example: Through the Independent Directors Council, we have explored board oversight of fund compliance and the evolving relationship between boards and compliance. Whether the issue is new or longstanding, our goal is to provide insights and guidance that help your firms make sound decisions and navigate change with confidence.

We also offer Resource Hubs that bring together practical guidance and timely analysis on critical topics, from state privacy laws and disclosure requirements to the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Duty Rule. Whatever the topic, we provide members with access to current policies and oversight resources, such as our recently updated paper assessing financial intermediary controls and our updated due diligence questionnaire for global investment fund distributors. And through member surveys and benchmarking, we provide insights into how firms across the industry are navigating challenges—from implementing ETF share classes to using artificial intelligence. Through ICI, you can draw on the experience of the entire industry and apply those lessons at your own firm.

I’d also like to highlight our work on operational resilience—a key SEC exams focus area. We have developed a suite of resources to help you protect your companies from constantly growing and changing operational threats. We offer operational resilience tabletop exercises, which can help you prepare for cyberattacks, third-party service provider disruptions, and data privacy breaches. Many of our members rely on these exercises to better prepare for crises and protect investors. With the advent of frontier AI models that threaten cybersecurity like never before, these types of scenarios may not just be a matter of “if” they happen to your firm, but “when,” and we are committed to helping you manage them.

But perhaps the most important service we provide is helping you make sense—and make the most—of government policy. Our experts know the ins and outs of federal laws and regulations, because we’ve helped shape them going all the way back to the ’40 Act. Given our work on the front end of policymaking, ICI is uniquely positioned to help with implementation on the back end. Today, we are heavily involved on everything from the new Trump Accounts to reforms that expand retail investors’ access to private markets. The last year saw many positive reforms, and more are coming in the days ahead.

This is an exciting time for asset management. The White House and Congress have taken major steps to inspire a new generation of investors and give current investors more options. Our industry has been given a historic opportunity to help more people save for the long run. But we also have a heightened obligation to act responsibly and ensure that investors’ trust is well placed. I think in particular of retail investors’ increased access to private markets and alternative assets. They have a lot of questions about what they should do and what it will mean for them. We have to provide the right answers, based on the right understanding of compliance, risk, and legal realities.

Whatever the issue, ICI is here to help. Tell us what you need from us, and how we can provide more value. Your feedback directly shapes our work, from our advocacy in Washington to the resources we offer to members nationwide. You have many ways to give us that feedback, including committees, working groups, and other ICI forums. I urge you to get involved early and often, because the more you talk to us, the more we can do for you. 

I especially want to note that your input informs the recommendations we give to policymakers. You know better than anyone what works in the current regulatory system—and what doesn’t work. You also have a unique perspective on how ICI’s proposals would play out in the real world. Please, help us identify the barriers you face, so we can help appropriately break them down.  

At the end of the day, ICI represents companies of many different sizes and business models, but our goal is the same across the board. We exist to help you uphold the highest standards and succeed at the highest level. We share your commitment to upholding strong investor protections and promoting competition. We oppose any policy that puts your firms at a disadvantage, and we support reforms that level the playing field and unleash innovation. You are continually looking for new and better ways to serve investors. We are continually looking for new ways to give you the flexibility and clarity you need to succeed.

It is our privilege to represent you, and it’s our pleasure to tell your story. Few people know how much you do for investors, because you labor behind the scenes. They don’t see the policies you review; the risks you identify; the controls you test; or the legal analyses you conduct. But while your work isn’t always visible, the results of your work are crystal clear. You give hardworking American families the confidence to invest their money for the future. You ensure that retirees have nothing to fear in their golden years. Ultimately, you foster the trust that defines our industry, and you make long-term investing possible.

That’s why we created this conference—to honor you, and to help you. We hope that being here becomes one of the most important things you do all year. And before you head back home, we hope you’ll tell us how to improve next year. Your voice matters, and your work is vital. Thank you for joining us—and thank you for all you do for the sake of investors.

Our next speaker is uniquely suited to continue this conversation.

Keith Cassidy is Director of the SEC’s Division of Examinations, where he promotes compliance, identifies emerging risks, and protects investors. He also serves as the SEC’s Federal Senior Intelligence Coordinator and previously held several senior roles at the Commission, including Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations and head of its Technology Controls Program.

Keith brings a perspective that is especially valuable to this audience. The work of compliance, risk, and legal professionals is ultimately about taking regulatory expectations and putting them into practice every day. The Division of Examinations sees that work up close across the industry.

We’re very pleased to have Keith with us today to share his perspective on the SEC’s priorities and the evolving regulatory landscape. And following his keynote speech, Paul Cellupica, ICI’s General Counsel, will sit with him for a fireside chat. I speak for all of us when I say we’re looking forward to his thoughts. Now please join me in welcoming SEC Division of Examinations Director Keith Cassidy.