Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Investment Management and Private Funds Roundtable – June 2020
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Fiduciary investment advice: The patchwork emerges
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC enforcement
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Complying with new SEC rules for broker-dealers
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series: Establishing An Investment Platform Post-Regulation BI
Investment Management Update - Focus on Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
On July 31, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it agreed to settle allegations that a California-based broker-dealer sold in excess of $13 million in “L bonds,” a speculative, unrated debt...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Enforcement Division recently announced its first settlement involving a firm’s supervision of social media influencers. The respondent, M1 Finance LLC (M1), is a...more
This amendment builds on FINRA’s recent willingness to relax the prohibition on the use of projections and targeted returns in the marketing materials broker-dealers deliver to institutional investors and qualified...more
On January 9, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report. Previously titled Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program, the Report is released...more
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investigations present significant risks for broker-dealers. Not only can FINRA take enforcement action—including the imposition of penalties and barring broker-dealers from the...more
Unless you rely solely on streaming services, at some point in recent years, you have likely seen Tom Selleck pitching reverse mortgages as a retirement strategy. Is that a product for you? Or your parents? This article won’t...more
On January 10, 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) released its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (the “Report), available at: 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced, on November 14, 2022, a targeted exam focusing on broker-dealers’ practices for communications with retail investors regarding Crypto Assets (as defined below)....more
As might be expected, FINRA appears to be aligning itself with the SEC in its assertion of jurisdiction over investments that may not, at the end of the day, be deemed securities. ...more
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
The Commission’s rule writing calendar may be about to have a meltdown. The agency is considering a number of significant rule writing-proposals covering important areas. A number of those proposals are controversial,...more
FINRA’s Request for Comments - Based on concerns regarding complex products as expressed in Regulatory Notice 22-08, FINRA is seeking comments from member firms by May 9, 2022, including, how firms identify complex...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
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) recently kicked off a “sweep” examination with its August 2021 Targeted Exam Letter on “practices and controls related to the opening of options accounts and related...more
In Regulatory Notice 21-26 (July 15, 2021), FINRA amended the filing requirements of Rules 5122 and 5123 to require members to file with FINRA any “retail communications,” as defined in FINRA Rule 2210, that promote or...more
FINRA Rules - On July 15, 2021, FINRA announced that it has updated its rules regarding the offering of private placement securities to expand the existing requirement that each broker-dealer that issues and/or sells a...more
Putting Teeth on Reg BI (to take a bite out of complex products sales), Protecting Seniors (from romance scams, affinity frauds, and rogue POAs), Scrutinizing Bank-Based Reps, DBAs, and Remote Supervision, and the beginning...more
Gone are the days when you had to walk into a physical branch to open a brokerage account. Each trade used to cost money, and account minimums were high. Not anymore. Now any American with internet access and a bank account...more
On March 3, 2021, the Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, now either “the Division” or “EXAMS”) announced its fiscal year 2021...more
In setting forth its rationale, FINRA observed that private placement retail communications reviewed by AdReg have “revealed significant and pervasive” violations of FINRA Rule 2210. On October 28, 2020, the Financial...more
Thwarting the financial exploitation of seniors and other vulnerable investors has been an increasing focus of several financial regulators in recent years, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”). In...more
Regulation Best Interest: Best Interest and Suitability—How They Differ (Part 2) - Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) imposes a “best interest” standard of care on broker-dealers for their recommendations of securities and...more
The guidance highlights certain issues identified by FINRA regarding member firm communications to retail investors in private placement offerings. On July 1, 2020, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)...more
On April 7, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC” or the “Staff”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert to provide SEC-registered broker-dealers and investment...more
Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert to provide broker-dealers with guidance on examinations regarding regulation Best...more