Supervision Archives - Page 4 of 6

Message Archiving

Posted on March 17, 2021March 23, 2021 by admin

An important component of financial compliance for broker-dealers is establishing message archiving for all communications relating to its business. Not only is it required by FINRA, but it can protect your Firm if there is an employee conducting unethical or illegal business activities. In a communication from Smarsh, a participant in FINRA’s Preferred Pricing Program, they state that “Broker-dealers can avoid being penalized by regulators for wrong doing among individual professionals if they can clearly demonstrate that they are proactively and sufficiently capturing and monitoring all electronic communications.”

FINRA Notice 21-03: Low-Priced Securities Fraud

Posted on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 by admin

FINRA released regulatory notice 21-03, FINRA Urges Firms to Review Their Policies and Procedures Relating to Red Flags of Potential Securities Fraud Involving Low-Priced Securities, discussing issues with these securities offerings and fraud. Specifically, including those involving COVID-19 and cannabis related businesses, which appear to have been part of potential pump-and-dump or market manipulation schemes that target unsuspecting investors.

In the notice, FINRA states that “Low-priced securities tend to be volatile and trade in low volumes. It may be difficult to find accurate information about them. There is a long history of bad actors exploiting these features to engage in fraudulent manipulations of low-priced securities. Frequently, these actors take advantage of trends and major events — such as the growth in cannabis-related businesses or the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — to perpetrate the fraud.”

Cybersecurity Training for Employees

Posted on March 11, 2021 by admin

The Covid-19 Pandemic has affected everyone, forcing many to work from home and causing an increase in the use of virtual environments. With it comes a rise in cyber-attacks, as hackers take advantage of the confusion and peoples lack of preparation to break into company networks, and trick people into revealing sensitive information. This blog post will discuss some of the common areas of deficiencies for firm’s cybersecurity training programs, and a few tips for improving those programs to keep your firm and employees protected.

COVID-19 and Fixed Income Update

Posted on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 by admin

FINRA Rule 2232 requires firms to provide retail customers with mark-up disclosure (and other related disclosures) for trades in corporate and agency debt securities that firms offset on the same day with other principal trades in the same security. Disclosed mark-ups must be calculated from a security’s Prevailing Market Price (PMP), consistent with FINRA Rule 2121 and applicable FAQ guidance. On April 24, 2020 FINRA released a very valuable FAQ on Fixed Income Mark-up Disclosure with important updates related to disclosure requirements for broker dealers. Broker dealers and their employees are braving a whole new world with various work from home and virtual meeting and operations challenges. FINRA makes updates to the FAQ’s so it is important to check back often for the most up to date information.

FINRA Rule 3241: Registered Person as Customer’s Beneficiary

Posted on February 10, 2021 by admin

On October 29, 2020 FINRA released a regulatory notice detailing Rule 3241, a new rule that limits any associated person of a member firm who is registered with FINRA from being named a beneficiary, executor or trustee, or to have a power of attorney or similar position of trust for or on behalf of a customer. The rule requires the member firm with which the registered person is associated, upon receiving required written notice from the registered person, to review and approve or disapprove the registered person assuming such status or acting in such capacity. Rule 3241 does not apply where the customer is a member of the registered person’s “immediate family, and becomes effective February 15, 2021

FINRA’s Proposed Change to Rules 5122 and 5123

Posted on January 20, 2021 by SCM Communications

On October 28, 2020, FINRA filed a proposed rule change to amend Rules 5122 (Private Placements of Securities Issued by Members) and 5123 (Private Placements of Securities) that would require members to file retail communications concerning Private Placement offerings. Previously, Rules 5122 and 5123 required all offering documents to be filed with FINRA. However, they weren’t specific enough to include all documents that should have been considered offering documents, such as retail communications.