Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, enacted in 2012 with the goal of increasing American job creation and economic growth, contains key provisions relating to securities offered or sold through “crowdfunding.” Under Section 302 of the JOBS Act, a crowdfunding intermediary that engages in crowdfunding on behalf of issuers relying on the JOBS Act’s “crowdfunding exemption” is required to register with the SEC as a “funding portal” or broker and to register with an applicable self-regulatory organization.
FINRA is proposing the Funding Portal Rules and related forms that would apply to SEC-registered funding portals that become FINRA members pursuant to the JOBS Act and the SEC’s Regulation Crowdfunding. The proposed Funding Portal Rules reflect Regulation Crowdfunding as proposed by the SEC and would implement, under FINRA rules, the provisions of Title III of the JOBS Act.
The proposed Funding Portal Rules consist of a set of seven rules (Funding Portal Rules 100, 110, 200, 300, 800, 900 and 1200) and related forms (Form FPNMA, Form FP-CMA, Funding Portal Rule 300(c) Form, and Form FP-Statement of Revenue). In addition, as part of the proposed rule change, FINRA is proposing to adopt new FINRA Rule 4518 (Notification to FINRA in Connection with the JOBS Act) in the FINRA rulebook. New FINRA Rule 4518 would apply to registered broker members.
