On April 30, 2024, FINRA proposed amendments its Maintaining Qualifications Program (“MQP”) to reopen the period in which certain participants can complete their prescribed 2022 and 2023 continuing education (“CE”)...more
On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its final rule clarifying that employees may designate a non-employee third party as their representative during an OSHA inspection. ...more
In a previous update, Quarles discussed a new Alabama law that requires individuals serving as the designated representative for an Alabama-licensed facility to register with the Alabama Board of Pharmacy ("the Board”) as of...more
In a series of settlements announced this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) penalized several broker-dealers for allegedly failing to file...more
An appointed representative (“AR”) is a firm or person who carries on a regulated activity, or activities, under the responsibility of an authorized financial services firm. An authorized firm that appoints representatives in...more
The FCA has published a policy statement and final rules aimed at improving the appointed representatives (ARs) regime. Previous FCA data analysis had shown that there are more issues arising from principals and ARs than from...more
In December 2021, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a consultation paper (CP21/34) outlining proposed changes to its Appointed Representatives (“AR”) regime (the “Consultation”). The FCA’s AR...more
UK regulators are considering how they can strengthen the regime to enhance standards and reduce risk. On 3 December 2021, the FCA published a Consultation Paper (CP21/34) on changes to its rules regarding the Appointed...more
La Superintendencia de Sociedades (Supersociedades) de Colombia, el 9 de junio de 2021, emitió el Oficio 220-077235 (el Oficio), por medio del cual se encargó de señalar que aquellos administradores (representantes legales y...more
This article explores the topic of appointed representatives under Article 27 of the GDPR. What are they? When do you need one? How is regulatory enforcement starting to play out in the EU and in the UK on this issue?...more
FINRA, of course, has lots, and lots, of rules. Heck, it has rules about making rules. The things that RRs can and cannot do per those rules are strictly proscribed, mostly in great detail. Things that ordinary people can...more
Under Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) rules, whenever broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, or issuers of securities (FINRA member) terminate the employment of a FINRA-registered representative,...more
With the UK unambiguously out of the EU, this fourth and final installment of our Data & Brexit Digest explores the topic of appointed representatives under Article 27. What is an Article 27 representative? The...more
UPDATE: As of December 30, 2020, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, and Rhode Island have joined Iowa in adopting the NAIC model rule for best interest standard in annuity sales. Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada and Ohio...more
I dare you. In fact, I double-dog dare you to figure out how or why FINRA decides to charge willfulness in some cases but not in others. Bottom line is that it is nearly impossible (except if you’re a big firm, in which case...more
At the October 7, 2020 open meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chairman Jay Clayton announced that the Staff of the Commission proposed to grant exemptive relief, permitting natural persons to engage in...more
FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Counsel (“NAC”), recently, affirmed a disciplinary panel decision significantly sanctioning a broker-dealer for paying unregistered persons and entities. FINRA alleged, among other things,...more
While much of the broker-dealer world has been trying to figure out how to protect the financial welfare of their customers, in addition to watching Netflix and searching in vain for Lysol wipes online, our trusty securities...more
UPDATED: MAY 12, 2020: Yesterday, Iowa adopted its proposed regulation requiring annuity agents to act in the best interest of consumers, but delayed adoption (or revision, withdrawal) of the companion securities rules. The...more
On March 5 at 2 p.m. (ET), Ulmer attorney Christopher D. Seps will host a live webinar to discuss the FINRA expungement process from beginning to end, including: - Procedural steps governing the FINRA expungement process ...more
Typically not. Article 27 of the GDPR requires some foreign (i.e., non-European) companies to designate a “representative" that is present in the European Union. The purpose of the representative is to provide a European...more
Here is how PIABA’s one-track mind operates: in a Report it just issued, PIABA laments the frequency with which registered reps are able to get customer complaints expunged from their records. The sole reason for this, PIABA...more
In the past week, I ran across two discrete instances in which FINRA acts as a secret gatekeeper of sorts, exercising its own subjective judgment, without anyone knowing what, exactly, it is doing or why, employing...more
I have written a few times about FINRA’s ceaseless interest in bringing cases against registered reps who fail to update their Form U-4 in a timely manner to disclose the fact that a tax lien has been filed against them. Or...more
Regulation Best Interest: The Focus on Costs (Part 1) - The SEC has issued its final Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), Form CRS Regulation, RIA Interpretation and Solely Incidental Interpretation. I am discussing the...more