By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,Disclosure,Fees,FINRA,NASAAYesterday, NASAA released a Model Fee Disclosure Template for broker-dealers, urging firms voluntarily to adopt the model as a means of clearly disclosing to customers and prospective customers the types and amounts of various miscellaneous fees that BDs ordinarily charge their customers. Working with FINRA, SIFMA, the FSI, LPL Financial LLC, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney… Continue Reading
By Nathan Lamb on Posted in Arbitration,BrokerCheck,FINRA,Form U-4,Registered RepresentativeA couple of events caught my attention this week and, since they are related, I thought I’d address them together. On Monday, the SEC announced a proposed rule change to FINRA Rule 8312, the FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure Rule. Rule 8312 permits FINRA to disclose certain information on BrokerCheck about registered individuals. As many of you… Continue Reading
By Chris Seps on Posted in Arbitration,Discovery,FINRA,Registered RepresentativeI’ve previously posted about my frustration with the way the discovery guide is written, with particular attention focused on List 1 Item 10. See my prior post here. Item 14 causes me similar angst. Why? Because Item 14 is so poorly worded that, if read literally, almost no audit report will ever be responsive to it.… Continue Reading
By Chris Seps on Posted in Arbitration,Discovery,FINRA,Registered RepresentativeFINRA’s Discovery Guide for Customer Disputes is not perfect. I think that FINRA would be the first one to admit that – which is why the Discovery Guide adopted under the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes has been revised three times in the past five years, and a task force has been set… Continue Reading
By Nathan Lamb on Posted in Arbitration,FINRABy now, it should be clear, we are oft to criticize FINRA in this blog. Much of that criticism is self-inflicted by, in our view, their unfair or unreasonable decisions. But, in a departure from the norm, I want to recognize an instance when FINRA is getting something right. Effective this Friday, there will be… Continue Reading
By Chris Seps on Posted in Arbitration,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,FINRA,Mediation,SettlementsI recently had two clients, both respondents in pending matters – ask me the same question in the same day: should I mediate this case? The answers I gave them differed dramatically, not just because the facts of each case were very different, but because one case was a customer arbitration, where we are defending… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Enforcement,FINRA,SettlementsI used to work for NASD (before it became FINRA). First as an attorney for the Department of Enforcement, and, later, as the Director of the Atlanta District office. Given the scope of my experience, I was able to see Enforcement cases as they were developed in the examination phase, conducted by Member Regulation, through… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,FINRAAnyone who’s handled FINRA arbitrations is well familiar with panelists who regularly respond to evidentiary objections by overruling them, but with the admonition that they will only give whatever weight, if any, to the evidence that they deem appropriate. While that can sometimes be frustrating, it is understandable. The Federal Arbitration Act, and the many… Continue Reading
