Rules and Regulations Archives - Page 2 of 26

FINRA Rule 3110 Amendment Proposals

Posted on June 20, 2023 by SCM Communications

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) Rule 3110 gives explicit directives on supervision of all persons related to the broker dealer in order to stay in compliance with all applicable FINRA rules and regulations. Although it takes a solid compliance program to achieve this, it has been manageable. Enter COVID-19: “Stay at home for two weeks to flatten the curve” they said. With that, employees packed up their work, and so began the lifestyle of working from home (“WFH”). The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority had to ease up on broker dealer’s completing branch audits during this time simply due to Read more about FINRA Rule 3110 Amendment Proposals[…]

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

Posted on June 13, 2023 by SCM Communications

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance

Communication Recordkeeping in the Day of the Hybrid Workforce

Posted on May 31, 2023 by SCM Communications

All broker dealers have recordkeeping obligations required by Rule 17a-4(b)(4) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Among the list of required obligations is communication recordkeeping. This includes incoming as well as outgoing communications with respect to the broker dealer. Further instructions were given by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) in FINRA 11-39 and later in FINRA 17-18. This is noted because over the course of the past years, the hybrid work environment has become the norm. With this, more and more communication software and applications have become available to the public to ease the transition between working from Read more about Communication Recordkeeping in the Day of the Hybrid Workforce[…]

FINRA announces OFAC search tool is retiring.

FINRA OFAC Search Tool Retiring

Posted on December 15, 2022 by SCM Communications

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) provides an OFAC search tool that many industry member firm’s use as part of their onboarding process for risk-based background reviews. As of January 3, 2023, FINRA’s OFAC search tool will be retired. We recommend that you notify all staff that normally do OFAC checks for your Firm so they can become familiar with the OFAC tool available through the United States Department of Treasury. What is OFAC? The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the government agency that maintains the OFAC list. The OFAC list is a publicly available list and is made Read more about FINRA OFAC Search Tool Retiring[…]

Regulatory Notice 22-12 TRACE Amendments

Posted on September 20, 2022 by SCM Communications

FINRA Adopts Amendments to TRACE Reporting Rule to Require Identification of Portfolio Trades Effective May 15, 2023 if you trade in TRACE-eligible securities and those securities are part of a portfolio trade, you will be required to input an appropriate modifier. The Sale Condition 4 modifier, available via the TRAQS secure web browser and the TRACE FIX protocol (Tag 22004), will be available for this designation. Regulatory Notice 22-12 provides information on the new requirement and considerations for compliance. Background FINRA has amended Rule 6730 to require members to append a new portfolio trade modifier when reporting corporate bond trades Read more about Regulatory Notice 22-12 TRACE Amendments[…]

Private Placement Best Practices from FINRA Disciplinary Actions

Posted on August 19, 2022 by admin

FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) publishes a monthly review of disciplinary actions taken against both firms and individuals. These disciplinary actions are useful tools to look for trends in violations and other sanctions. These trends can assist you in identifying weak areas in your Firm’s compliance programs or surveillance. Below is a list of a few recent actions related to unregistered offerings or private placements including links to learn more about each as well as key takeaways. Due diligence obligations in connection with private offerings- Torch Securities In summary, Torch Securities failed to establish and maintain WSPs reasonably designed to Read more about Private Placement Best Practices from FINRA Disciplinary Actions[…]