In September, the Securities Exchange Commission’s new Cybersecurity Rule for reporting public companies became effective. The SEC Cybersecurity Rule applies to public companies and generally requires (1) disclosure of...more
9/29/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Form 8-K ,
New Rules ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
A panel of the D.C. Circuit recently relied on Lucia and Cochran to enjoin a FINRA regulatory enforcement action pending appeal of an Appointments Clause challenge....more
8/21/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Article III ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Standing
Every year the Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issues its “Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program.” The Report covers issues noted during the prior year’s exams and topics that examiners...more
1/13/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Best Execution ,
Books & Records ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Form CRS ,
Market Manipulation ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Securities Transactions ,
Variable Annuities
Last January, an aggressive bid to vacate an arbitration defeat raised claims that a large bank’s brokerage unit and its counsel manipulated FINRA’s arbitrator-selection process through a “secret agreement.” The Georgia...more
On July 27, 2022, FINRA filed a proposed rule change with the SEC that would “modernize” its supervision rule to make permanent pandemic-related temporary exemptions that allowed limited-scope work-from-home (“WFH”) for...more
On June 29, 2022, FINRA released the report of its independent investigation, concluding that allegations of a “secret agreement” to avoid certain arbitrators on an industry lawyer’s cases were untrue.
The allegations...more
6/30/2022
/ Administrative Review ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Banks ,
Brokerage Accounts ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Forum ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Securities Litigation ,
Vacatur ,
Wells Fargo
In its April 27 Weekly Update, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection program urged FINRA member firms to review a cyber-threat alert arising from Russia’s...more
4/29/2022
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Threats ,
Data Protection ,
Distributed Denial of Service ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Information Technology ,
Malware ,
Military Conflict ,
Risk Management ,
Russia ,
Ukraine ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In the securities industry, regulators like to say that the compliance professionals are their “partners.” But every so often, those regulators charge one of their compliance partners with rule violations. The compliance...more
3/23/2022
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Management ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Lead Supervisory Authority ,
Personal Liability ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
The regular “Weekly Update” email from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) had an eye-catching warning February 16, urging broker-dealer member firms to heed the “Shields Up” cyber threat warning from the...more
2/17/2022
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
FBI ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Hackers ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
New Guidance ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Russia ,
Threat Management ,
Vulnerability Assessments
Over the last couple of decades, the securities self-regulatory organization FINRA (f/k/a NASD) informs its membership each year of what compliance risks are noted by its examination program. Those are risks firms should...more
2/10/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Capital Raising ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Crowdfunding ,
Cybersecurity ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Form CRS ,
Influencers ,
Municipal Securities Market ,
Regulation BI ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
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
On August 13, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued Regulatory Notice 21-29, collecting guidance on outsourcing and vendor management. The Notice was prompted by increased reliance on outsourcing...more
Since the appointment of Allison Heron Lee as interim SEC chair, the SEC has pushed an ESG agenda in all things from corporate disclosures, to investment companies, international standards and even enforcement. ...more
Last week, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 21-16 cautioning member firms against attempting to limit customer claims through language in mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Rule 2628 prescribes disclosure...more
On March 4, FINRA issued a Regulatory Notice warning member firms not to fall for phishing scam preying on compliance fears. The scam uses a phony email address, supports@finra-online.com, demanding an immediate response to...more
In an SEC filing Friday, February 26, Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities disclosed they are negotiating with FINRA, the SEC, and state regulators, attempting to settle investigations into options-trading and outages...more
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) recently proposed sweeping modernization of industry self-regulatory rules to reflect firms’ successful pivot to remote operations over the past year. SIFMA...more
The Wall Street Journal reports traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum – the same social medium that helped fuel the GameStop short squeeze – have started bidding up cannabis stocks. Mentions on the forum jumping from near...more
During the height of the GameStop (NYSE: GME) mania, Slate author Jordan Weissman explained that “[A]t a moment that the markets are being overrun, for better or worse, by posters who’ve basically dedicated themselves to...more
2/10/2021
/ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Market Manipulation ,
Market Volatility ,
Reddit ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Short Selling ,
Stock Prices ,
Stock Trades ,
UK
On Thursday, January 28, trading-app broker-dealer Robinhood – a self-styled disrupter democratizing trading – suspended its users’ ability to buy Gamestop stock or options (along with other stocks). After playing a...more
2/5/2021
/ Brokerage Accounts ,
Brokers ,
Class Action ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Trades
On February 1, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) released its “Report on FINRA’s Risk Monitoring and Examination Activities.” The Report combines two of FINRA’s long-standing reports: (a) the...more
2/3/2021
/ BSA/AML ,
CARES Act ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Industry Examinations ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Private Placements ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Social Media ,
Stock Trades ,
Variable Annuities
Spotlight -
U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Burr's Petition for the South Carolina Election Commission: South Carolina's Witness Requirement on Absentee Ballots is Here to Stay -
On October 5th, the Supreme Court...more
10/27/2020
/ Absentee Voting ,
Business Litigation ,
Cybersecurity ,
Employee Rights ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Liability Insurance ,
Mail-In Ballots ,
Phishing Scams ,
Political Campaigns ,
Remote Proceedings ,
Right to Vote ,
SCOTUS ,
Wage and Hour
Phishing FINRA -
October is cyber-security awareness month, so it’s only appropriate that FINRA started it with another Regulatory Notice warning member firms to beware of a false-survey phishing scheme. The Notice warns...more
10/8/2020
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Hackers ,
Information Technology ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Phishing Scams ,
Ransomware
SBA Issues New PPP Rules for Owner-Employees and Related Party Rents -
The Small Business Administration ("SBA") recently issued a new interim final rule clarifying whether paycheck protection program ("PPP") loan proceeds...more
9/25/2020
/ Business Closures ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cybersecurity ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Government Lockdown ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
Rent ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business
On August 20, FINRA warned member firms about a rash of imposter websites, using registered representative’s names, pictures, CRD numbers and other information to gull investors into providing personally-identifying...more