There are certain topics that broker-dealers have been encountering for decades, yet continue unnecessarily to wrestle with due to the absence of clear guidance from the regulators. I have written about one such topic before, and that’s the fuzzy line between most outside business activities, which RRs are obliged (at a minimum) by rule to
Outside business activities
Cetera Pays $1 Million To Settle A Case That Should Have Been Moot . . . Except FINRA Failed To Act On A Wildly Popular Rule Proposal It Floated Three Years Ago
By Alan Wolper on
Almost three years ago, in Reg Notice 18-08, FINRA wisely (but, nevertheless, still a bit late to the party) proposed to revise its own prior guidance regarding the troublesome intersection between outside business activities and investment advisor business, guidance that FINRA itself acknowledged had “caused significant confusion and practical challenges.” Specifically, in crusty old…
Yes, You Can Form A Broker-Dealer Without Running Afoul Of FINRA’s Outside Business Activities Rule
By Michael Gross on
It is not a wise career move for a registered rep to leave his broker-dealer – thereby abandoning his customers, and affording competitors the opportunity to make his customers their own – and then to begin the long, expensive, and uncertain process of forming a FINRA-registered broker-dealer. Common sense, principles of fundamental fairness, and good…
BD Learns It’s Not Enough To Have A Supervisory Procedure For OBAs, You Actually Have To Follow It
By Alan Wolper on
In most Enforcement cases involving outside business activities, it is the registered rep who is named as the respondent, and the allegation is that the RR failed to provide notice (or timely notice) to his or her broker-dealer about the OBA. On occasion, however, it is the BD that gets tripped up, typically for not…
FINRA’S 2018 Exam Priorities Reflect Business As Usual
By Alan Wolper on
I would imagine that the point of FINRA releasing its list of exam priorities each year is to help firms who are actually going to be examined, by providing a glimpse into FINRA’s playbook so they can address, proactively, the issues they know FINRA will focus on. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, right? …
Can FINRA Deliver On A Promise To Provide Meaningful Relief To Compliance Departments?
By Alan Wolper on
As I have discussed before, there are some rule violations that are going to happen no matter what FINRA says about them, no matter how many Enforcement cases it brings, and no matter what BDs do to “detect and prevent” such violations. A prime example of such is outside business activities, or OBAs. The rule…
FINRA Provides The Blueprint For Monitoring Outside Business Activities
By Alan Wolper on
Outside business activities are in the news. In Reg Notice 17-20, FINRA announced that it was seeking comments in an effort to learn whether or not the existing rules governing OBAs are effective. (The comment period is open until late June, so if you have strong feelings on the subject, now is the time…