The securities regulator's five-member panel voted 3-2 in favor of a series of changes aimed at increasing transparency, fairness and accountability in the private funds industry, which has more than doubled its assets over the past decade. The industry manages around $20 trillion in assets.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler said ahead of the panel's voting that the changes will benefit investors in these funds, typically wealthy individuals and institutional investors such as pension funds and companies raising capital from them. While the changes mark the biggest overhaul of industry rules in years, the SEC rowed back on some proposals after major players, including Citadel and Andreesen Horowitz, argued that the agency was overreaching its authority by attempting to bar long-established fee structures and liability terms.