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Senior investors and retirement investments will be a major area of focus for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations on 2017, the SEC announced Thursday.

“As the U.S. population ages and investors become more dependent than ever on their own investments for retirement income, we are devoting increased attention to issues affecting senior investors and those investing for retirement,” according to a document announcing the priorities.

The OCIE will broaden its Retirement-Targeted Industry Reviews and Examinations, or ReTIRE, initiative to include reviews of investment advisers and broker-dealers who offer variable insurance products to investors with retirement accounts, as well as those advisers who offer and manage target-date funds, the SEC said. The office also will focus more specifically on the interactions that investment firms have with older-adult investors, including the firms’ ability to identify the financial exploitation of seniors, the commission said.

Other priorities for the year, the SEC said, will be protecting retail investors; focusing on market-wide risks, including compliance with anti-money laundering rules; continuing to inspect the operations and regulatory programs of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority; and examining cybersecurity compliance procedures and controls.