U.S. securities regulators voted Wednesday to adopt a new rule requiring certain advisors to hedge funds and other private funds to report information that will be used to watch for systemic risks to the financial system.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to adopt a rule that will require SEC-registered investment advisors with at least US$150 million in private fund assets under management to periodically file a new reporting form for use by the Financial Stability Oversight Council in monitoring risks to the financial system. The reports will remain confidential.

There will be a two-stage phase-in period for compliance with the new filing requirements. Most advisors will be required to begin filing following the end of their first fiscal quarter after Dec. 15, 2012. Those with US$5 billion or more in private fund assets must begin filing following the end of their first quarter after June 15, 2012.

The rule divides private fund advisors into two broad groups by size, and the amount of information they must report and the frequency of reporting, depends whether the advisor is considered large or small. Large advisors include: firms with at least US$1.5 billion in assets under management attributable to hedge funds; US$2 billion attributable to private equity funds; or, at least US$1 billion in combined assets under management attributable to liquidity funds and registered money market funds. All other firms are considered small advisors. Most large advisors must report quarterly, except private equity fund advisors, which, like smaller advisors, only have to report annually.

The SEC says it anticipates that most private fund advisors will be regarded as smaller advisors, but that the relatively limited number of large advisors will represent a substantial portion of total industry assets under management.

“The data collection form that we have adopted will address the dramatic lack of private fund information available to regulators today while easing the burden on private fund managers producing the data,” said SEC chairman, Mary Schapiro.