FINRA has offered a gift to member firms and fund managers just in time for the holiday season — but like a new puppy, the gift comes with a lot of responsibility. FINRA filed a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 2210...more
The proposal would codify for the first time the federal-level best execution standard for brokers and related obligations. New Regulation Best Execution would result in a pivot from what has been a principles-based approach...more
The SEC Division of Examinations recently published a Risk Alert on quarterly reports required under Exchange Act Rule 606, which are published by broker-dealers to provide customers with insight into factors influencing...more
12/13/2022
/ Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Information Reports ,
Public Comment ,
Public Meetings ,
Quarterly Report ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
FINRA recently hosted a conference call with its smaller members covering Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS compliance. FINRA’s resounding message was that there is “no one-size-fits all” approach to Reg. BI...more
10/13/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
This article focuses on how the new Rule 206(4)-1 (the “Marketing Rule”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”) affects the relationships between investment advisers registered with the U.S. Securities...more
10/4/2022
/ Advertising ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Endorsements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Marketing ,
New Rules ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Private Funds ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Testimonial Statements
SEC staff recently served up a juicy staff bulletin covering the standards of conduct for broker-dealer and investment adviser conflicts of interest. The staff bulletin includes 13 Q&As categorized into five different...more
This is the first in a series of alerts discussing topics covered by FINRA in its 2022 Examination and Risk Monitoring Program Report (the “Report”). Here we take a look at Regulation Best Interest (“Reg. BI”) and Form CRS,...more
2/25/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Training
On December 17, 2021, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement regarding Form CRS disclosures required of SEC-registered broker-dealers and investment advisers who offer services to retail...more
FINRA recently amended its rules in order to strengthen its tools to respond to brokers with a significant history of misconduct and the firms that employ them. The amended rules include FINRA’s Disciplinary Proceedings...more
On October 7, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted 3-2 to propose a conditional exemption (“Exemption”) to permit natural persons to engage in limited securities activities as “finders” on behalf of...more
10/12/2020
/ Accredited Investors ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Capital Raising ,
Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exemptions ,
Finders ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Private Offerings ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Unregistered Brokers
The compliance date of June 30, 2020, is looming for U.S. broker-dealers subject to Regulation Best Interest (Reg. BI) and broker-dealers and investment advisers required to prepare and provide relationship summaries pursuant...more
5/19/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Popular ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retail Investors ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
Regulatory Developments -
SEC Proposes Amendments to Regulation ATS to Shine a Light on Dark Pools:
On Nov. 18 the SEC announced that it had issued Release No. 34-76474 proposing amendments to Regulation ATS,...more
11/25/2015
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Dark Pool ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Money Market Funds ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulation SHO ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Volcker Rule
Regulatory Developments:
FINRA Requests Comment on Rules Relating to Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults -
On Oct. 15 FINRA published Regulatory Notice 15-37, requesting comment on proposed amendments to...more
10/22/2015
/ Amended Regulation ,
BE-180 ,
Benchmarks ,
Comment Period ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Data Collection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity ,
Elder Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exploitation ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fines ,
Foreign Nationals ,
HMDA ,
Investment Adviser ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Municipal Bonds ,
Neither Admit Nor Deny Settlements ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Offerings ,
Puerto Rico ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulation C ,
Regulation M ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Restitution ,
Rule 105 ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Short Selling ,
Surveys ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Regulatory Developments:
FINRA Proposes Rules for Funding Portals -
On Oct. 9 FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to adopt Funding Portal Rules 100 (general standards), 110 (funding portal application),...more
10/15/2015
/ Comment Period ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Crowdfunding ,
Debt Securities ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fees ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Funding Portal ,
JOBS Act ,
Kickbacks ,
Marketing Services Agreements ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Pricing ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Structured Financial Products
Regulatory Developments -
SEC Proposes to Amend Administrative Proceedings Rules:
On Sept. 24 the SEC announced that it had voted to propose amendments to rules governing its administrative proceedings. The...more
10/1/2015
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Bitcoin ,
Breach of Duty ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
CFTC ,
Class Certification ,
Comment Period ,
De-Risking ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Margin Requirements ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Securities Issuers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Execution Facilities ,
Wash Trades
FINRA’s Retrospective Rule Review Process Continues. On April 16, FINRA announced that the FINRA Board of Governors had authorized FINRA to publish a regulatory notice requesting comment on proposed amendments to Rules 2210...more
4/23/2015
/ BlackRock ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Credit Card Agreements ,
Cuba ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Reserve ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Advisers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Quicken Loans ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SIFIs ,
Supervision
Editor’s Note -
The Supreme Court Halts Challenge by Retailers to the Debit Card Interchange Fee Rules: On January 20, 2015, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to a challenge by retailers to debit card interchange fee...more
1/22/2015
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPOs ,
Debit Cards ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Reserve ,
Interchange Fees ,
Investment Adviser ,
National Futures Association ,
Proxy Season ,
Retailers ,
S&P ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Shareholder Proposals
In this issue:
- In preliminarily denying two exemption requests, the SEC takes a stand for market transparency in ETFs and upholds the arbitrage mechanism that allows market prices to closely track NAVs.
-...more
10/30/2014
/ ABS ,
Administrative Hearings ,
Arbitrage ,
Asset-Backed Securities ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
ETFs ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinCEN ,
Flood Insurance ,
Flood Zones ,
Money Services Business ,
Municipal Advisers ,
NAV ,
New Regulations ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Risk Retention ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Transparency ,
Virtual Currency