On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") issued its final rule expanding the definition of the "investment advice fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") and modifying the exemptions for investment activities. The new rule will be phased in starting in April 2017, and it is anticipated to draw battles over its expansion of the circumstances under which providing investment advice could give rise to a fiduciary duty. Specifically, by expanding the definition of a fiduciary, the rule casts a wide net in assigning fiduciary ...
In late October, FINRA issued a sweep exam, commanding firms to produce 15 categories of documents about firm's cross-selling programs over a 5-year span. The sweep seeks information on cross-selling, including incentives and compensation, tracking and performance metrics, complaints and discipline, compliance and supervision, among others. The letter also imposes a November 15 response deadline.
The sweep letter does not expressly refer to the recent Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal or to Senator Warren's ensuing broad-side calling for SEC Chair White's resignation ...
The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) renewed its criticism of FINRA's Broker-Check® system in a report issued in late October. PIABA was especially critical of the system's
- Lack of synchronization with state-regulator databases that often contain more fulsome information (including, e.g., CRD information such as reasons for broker termination, bankruptcy filings and tax liens);
- Lack of comparative, contextual data such as the total number of brokers and percentage of those with similar numbers of disciplinary results;
- Inaccessibility to the public ...