Posts tagged Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
It is not uncommon for registered representatives to change broker-dealers over the course of their career.
In most cases, their customers will typically switch firms as well, as they follow their representative to wherever he or she may go. Seems like a non-issue, right? FINRA did not think so. FINRA became concerned that when the representatives contacted the customers to discuss the switch, the customers may not be provided all the information necessary to make an informed decision on whether to transfer their assets. Accordingly, FINRA proposed a rule that requires ...
Tags: Broker Compensation-Disclosure Rule, burr forman, Compensation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
Each year, FINRA and the SEC publish their priority letters explaining areas of focus for the upcoming year. The priorities reflect practices and/or products that are perceived to present either heightened risk to investors, a risk to the integrity of the U.S. capital markets, or are otherwise areas of potential concern inherent in the securities industry. One area that FINRA will be focusing on is incentive structures and conflicts of interest that may arise with registered representatives selling proprietary or affiliated products, or products for which the firm receives ...
Tags: burr forman, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
FINRA released its annual Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter (so-called "Errico Letter") on January 5. FINRA's top five priorities:
- Firm Culture. FINRA's been pushing "culture of compliance" for years, but in 2016 will take it to the next level: "FINRA will formalize our assessment of firm culture while continuing our focus on conflicts of interest and ethics." In looking at a firm's culture, FINRA will focus on "Five Factors" to assess whether:
- policy or control breaches are tolerated;
- control functions are valued within the organization;
- managers are ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: Errico Letter, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
As 2015 ended, FINRA fined Barclays Capital $13.75 million for mutual-fund switching and breakpoint supervisory failures that might have been avoided if that part of Barclay's WSPs had been properly calibrated and/or part of their annual compliance testing. The lapses stemmed in part from an inaccurate definition of switching in Barclay's WSPs and those undetected problems mounted over the years. A five-year look back review uncovered over 6100 unsuitable switches with customer harm of about $8.63 million; a similar six-month look back revealed 1,723 unsuitable mutual-fund ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: Annual Compliance Testing, Barclay, Barclays Capital, burr forman, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, Rule 3120, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration, WSPs
FINRA's Dispute Resolution Task Force issued its Final Report in mid-December. The Report reflects the group's consideration of wide-ranging issues affecting the nation's principle dispute-resolution forum for broker-dealers, their associated persons and customers. The Task Force made 51 recommendations for changes to FINRA Arbitrations, including: Improve Arbitrator Quality by:
- Increasing compensation;
- Improving recruitment for depth and diversity;
- Improving selection to provide a pool of 30 in all-public arbitrator cases; achieve earlier and better conflict ...
Posted in: Arbitration, FINRA
Tags: burr forman, Dispute Resolution Task Force, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Arbitrations, Securities Arbitrations, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration, Task Force Report
On December 16, FINRA submitted for SEC approval proposed Rule 2273 to require that brokers send customers an "educational disclosure" when changing firms. Although the proposal deletes a controversial provision that would have required disclosure of hiring bonuses, it requires hiring firms to deliver the FINRA-prescribed disclosure form when contacting former customers about account transfers or receiving their transferred funds. The Rule would require the communication to accompany mailings, be hyper-linked in emails, or sent within three business days after phone ...
Tags: brokers, burr forman, educational disclosure, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, Recruiting-Disclosure Rule, Rule 2273, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
The SEC recently approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's ("MSRB") extension to Municipal Advisors ("MA's") of its dealer Rule G-20, restricting gifts in connection with municipal securities. The Rule also updates and consolidates existing guidance and conforms to FINRA's similar requirements in FINRA Rule 3220. The Rule adds a new prohibition against entertainment-expense reimbursement from offering proceeds, Rule G-20(e). In general, the Rule prohibits gifts or services (including gratuities) exceeding $100 per year to any person if they relate to the ...
Tags: burr forman, dodd-frank act, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Rule 3220, Gift Prohibitions, MSRB, Municipal Advisors, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, Rule G-20, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
FINRA Reg. Notice 15-37 (Oct. 2015) requests prompt comment (by November 30) on proposed Rules aimed at detecting and minimizing financial exploitation of seniors and other "vulnerable" adults. The proposals would amend Rule 4512(F) to require Firms' reasonable efforts to obtain name and contact information for a "Trusted Contact" person for newly-opened (or updated) individual accounts. A "Trusted Contact" must be over 18 and not authorized to transact business on the account. With notice to the account holder, Firms would be authorized to notify a "Trusted Contact" ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: burr forman, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Reg. Notice 15-37, Rule 4512(F), securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
A little over one year ago, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced a proposal to increase substantially its collection of brokerage data. That proposal, named the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System (CARDS), sought to take advantage of "technological advances [that] c[ould have] be[en] leveraged to obtain, store, manage and access large quantities of data to identify and quickly respond to potentially fraudulent and abusive behavior." Almost immediately upon its announcement of the proposal, FINRA faced industry-wide backlash centered ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: burr forman, CARDS, Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System, data collection, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration
On August 24, 2015, FINRA Rule 2040 concerning payments to unregistered persons went into effect. The rule, approved by the SEC in January 2015, is aligned with § 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Generally, FINRA firms or associated persons are forbidden from "paying any compensation, fees, concessions, discounts, commissions or other allowances" to persons not registered as broker-dealers under § 15(a) but who are required to be registered (as a result of receiving such compensation) or appropriately-registered association persons outside of compliance with ...
Tags: burr forman, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Rule 2040, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, securities litigation, Securities Litigation & Arbitration, unregistered persons
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced last week that it is seeking comment on a proposal to create a new academic Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) data set. While academic researchers already use historic TRACE data, the data currently available to researchers does not include identifying information about dealer identities. The new data product, which would be available solely to institutions of higher education, would include masked dealer identities. FINRA's proposal, which is similar to a proposal recently made by the Municipal ...
Tags: burr forman, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, MPIDs, MSRB, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, TRACE, TRACE data, Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's disciplinary appellate body (the National Adjudicatory Council or NAC) has revised the Sanction Guidelines used to determine penalties in enforcement cases. The revisions increase the severity of some Guidelines and generally index monetary fines to the Consumer Price Index. Key among the changes, the NAC:
- Urges "strong consideration" of individual bars or firm expulsion for intentional fraud or cases in which aggravating circumstances predominate
- Emphasizes more severe sanctions for recidivists;
- Increases the upper ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, NAC, National Adjudicatory Council, Sanction Guidelines, Securities Litigation blog
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on March 25, 2015 a proposal to amend Rule 15b9-1 under the Exchange Act to require broker-dealers who trade in off-exchange venues to become members of a national securities association. According to the SEC's press release, "the amendments would enhance regulatory oversight of active proprietary trading firms, such as high frequency traders." Under this proposal, such broker-dealers would be regulated not only by the SEC, but also the industry's self-regulatory agency, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ...
Tags: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, national securities association, Rule 15b9-1, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation
After seeking comments last fall, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently approved the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's ("FINRA") proposed rule governing member firms' verification and investigation of associated persons applying for registration with a member firm. Specifically, the Rule, which is based largely on NASD Rule 3010(e), requires member firms to investigate the qualifications and experience of its applicants as well as adopt written procedures designed to verify the accuracy of the disclosures contained in an applicant's ...
Tags: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Rule 3110(e), Form U4, investigation, NASD Rule 3010(e), registration, Registration Applicants, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, securities litigation, Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer
On February 26, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") approved a rule proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The rule, originally proposed by FINRA on June 17, 2014, amends FINRA Rule 12100(p) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes and FINRA Rule 13100(p) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes defining the term "non-public arbitrator" and FINRA Rule 12100(u) of the Customer Code and FINRA Rule 13100(u) of the Industry Code defining the term "public arbitrator." The proposed rule change was ...
Tags: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, FINRA Rule 12100(u) of the Customer Code, FINRA Rule 13100(u) of the Industry Code, Public Arbitrator, Public Arbitrator Rule, Rule 12100(p)(3), Rule 13100(p) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes, SEC, Securities Exchange Commission
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") released its 10th annual Exam Priority Letter earlier this week (Jan. 6, 2015). The so-called "Errico Letter" advises broker-dealer member firms of the operational risks the regulator expects to focus on in its examination (and enforcement) program. Moving a little closer to a principles-based regulatory approach than the usual "hot issue" laundry list from past years, this year's Letter first addresses five key areas of concern: 1. Alignment of Customer/Firm Interest 2. Standards of Ethical Behavior 3. Strong ...
Posted in: FINRA
Tags: 2015 Exam Priorities Letter, Algo's & Cross-Market Activity, AML, Anti-Money Laundering, Cyber Security, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, finra, Outsourcing, Trading Technology
Reacting in part to recent data-breaches and cyber-attacks on larger retailers, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") is conducting a targeted examination of some 20 broker-dealer member firms' compliance and risk-management approaches to cyber-security, aimed at increasing regulators' understanding of the cyber-security risk environment and various approaches and methods used throughout the industry. Wall Street conducted its second comprehensive cyber-security drill, Quantum Dawn 2, just this past July. The after-action study and related ...
On January 2, 2014, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") published its annual regulatory and examination priorities letter for 2014. In the publication, FINRA addressed a number of matters, including suitability of recommendations, addressing issues involving the solicitation, advertising, due diligence and suitability of private placements, and focusing its attention on "recidivist brokers." FINRA has always addressed the issue of suitability. Specifically, FINRA Rule 2111 explains the requirements, which are further explained in Regulatory ...