As firms continue executing work from home policies, they should consider crucial factors related to potential challenges and changes needed to their communications surveillance program. As more employees are working on personal devices, spending more time on social media, and conducting business in this new reality, regulations on building a compliant communications program are even more important now.
FINRA Rule 3110 Supervision requires a firm to establish and maintain a system to supervise the activities of its associated persons. Furthermore, the supervisory process seeks to achieve compliance with the applicable securities laws and regulations and FINRA rules.
[Continued from Communications with the Public – Part I]
Pursuant to FINRA Rules 2210(c)(3)(C) and 2214(a), firms that intend to offer an investment analysis tool must file templates for written reports produced by, or retail communications concerning, the tool, within 10 business days of first use. Rule 2214 also requires firms to provide FINRA with access to the tool itself, and provide customers with specific disclosures when firms communicate about the tool, use the tool or provide written reports generated by the tool.
In April 2014, FINRA began a review of its communications with the public rules to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. FINRA later published a report concluding that, while the rules have met their intended investor protection objectives, they could benefit from some updating to better align the investor protection benefits and the economic impacts. To this end, the SEC recently approved amendments to certain FINRA rules governing communications with the public effective January 9, 2017. The amendments revise the filing requirements in FINRA Rule 2210 and FINRA Rule 2214 and the content and disclosure requirements in FINRA Rule 2213. Below is a summary of some of these changes.
The SEC recently approved amendments to FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) which require broker-dealers to include a readily apparent reference and hyperlink to FINRA BrokerCheck on the initial web page viewed by retail investors, and any other web page that includes a professional profile of one or more registered persons who conduct business with retail investors. The rule amendments creating this new requirement were effective June 6, 2016. Read More…