By Alan Wolper on Posted in BrokerCheck,CRD,FINRA,Form U-4In the past week, I ran across two discrete instances in which FINRA acts as a secret gatekeeper of sorts, exercising its own subjective judgment, without anyone knowing what, exactly, it is doing or why, employing unarticulated standards, and without providing any avenue for redress. And I find that really frightening. The first involves CRD,… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRALast year, for the first time, FINRA produced a statistical report designed to provide some perspective on the firms that comprise its membership. I blogged about it, and concluded at the time that the report basically demonstrated the following: FINRA is still mostly composed of small firms But the number of those firms, and the… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in CFTC,SECSelflessly, Blaine Doyle recently attended a presentation here in Chicago by the SEC and CFTC, so you didn’t have to do it yourself. Here is his recount of the highlights. – Alan Anyone who has sat through a talk by financial regulators is undoubtedly familiar with the refrain from the individuals that they do not… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in ArbitrationI was catching up on my reading and came across a column in Investment News by Mark Schoeff that described the results of a recent FINRA arbitration, results which I found a bit alarming. I caution you: reading too much into any arbitration award can be dangerous and/or foolhardy since they don’t always follow –… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,FINRA,PIABAI read an article this week in Investment News with the following headline: “Brokerage Customers Winning More FINRA Arbitration Cases.” As a guy who defends customer cases, I was naturally intriguied by this. According to the article, “brokerage customers who do file claims against their registered representative or firm are faring better in the process… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,FINRA,SanctionsWhat is it with big firms and fingerprints? You may recall back in October 2017, J.P. Morgan entered into an AWC with FINRA in which it agreed to pay a $1.25 million fine for the following, as described in FINRA’s press release about the case: FINRA found that for more than eight years, J.P. Morgan did… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Crypto,digital assets,FINRARightly or wrongly, I don’t know much about cryptocurrencies or digital coins. But that’s ok. What is worrisome, on the other hand, is that I am increasingly concerned that FINRA doesn’t either. And while my own ignorance will have exactly zero impact on your day, that is most certainly not the case with FINRA. I… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Arbitration,FINRA,PIABAIf you read this blog even semi-regularly, you know that I have taken a few shots at PIABA. I think they’re well earned, but some people – particularly PIABA lawyers, not surprisingly – have suggested that I’m overdoing it. Well, if you ever had any doubt that the motivation behind pretty much everything that PIABA… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,Examination,FINRAFINRA loves to tout its supposed intent to bring meaningful cases, cases that matter to the investing public, rather than enforcing “foot faults,” as it has been accused of doing over the years. My own experience with FINRA suggests that while it talks a big game, in reality, we all still live in foot-fault city.… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,Examination,FINRAWhile I feel I have enjoyed as much success defending respondents in FINRA Enforcement matters as anyone, I am still careful to caution clients who are unwilling to consider any settlement that going toe-to-toe with FINRA at a hearing is always a difficult proposition, even though they are presumed innocent and FINRA bears the burden… Continue Reading
By Chris Seps on Posted in BrokerCheck,Enforcement,FINRAI heartily endorse this post from my colleague, Chris, who’s been quiet of late. It says a lot about FINRA, in terms of how it deigns to spend your assessment money, how fairness in the Enforcement process can be completely illusory, and how it is consistently unable to convince much of the investing public that it… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,FINRA,High-Risk firmsReading Reg Notice 19-17 makes me think of the legal arguments that I’ve recently read regarding whether a president can be found guilty of obstructing justice if the actions in question were taken out in the open, for everyone to see. Here, FINRA’s proposed power grab is simply outrageous, but, you got to give them… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,High-Risk firmsI apologize for all the posts this week, but I am traveling and am in a different time zone, so I am awake at hours when, ordinarily, I would be asleep, giving me time to muse. Anyway, given that, I will not test your willingness to indulge my random thoughts a third time in one… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,FINRA,SanctionsWay back in 2006, NASD issued Notice to Members 06-55, which tweaked the Sanction Guidelines to allow not just the size of the firm to be taken into consideration when determining the appropriate sanctions to be meted out, but, more importantly, how well, or how poorly, the firm is doing on its income statement. Specifically,… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disclosure,FINRA,Registered RepresentativeFINRA came out with a slightly weird Regulatory Notice last week. In a succinct document, barely over two pages, FINRA addressed something that may, or may not, actually be of concern to anyone. In short, Regulatory Notice 19-10 states FINRA’s position on what a broker-dealer is supposed to tell the customers of a registered representative… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in SEC,SupervisionI have been busy the last month getting ready for a big arbitration, and attending the first week of what looks like is going to be a four- or five-week slog when all is said and done. So, I am just catching up on some recent developments, and mulling over what might be of interest… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,FINRA,High-Risk firmsIf you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that over my last few posts, I have been talking about an increasingly visible effort by FINRA to turn its regulatory eye from rogue brokers – who have been an irritant to FINRA and NASD for decades – to rogue firms (my term,… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,heightened supervision,High-Risk firms,Rogue repI told you two weeks ago in my blog post that this would happen. I told you that when Robert Cook announced the topics to be taken up at the February/March FINRA Board meeting in Boca Raton, he slipped and used the new phrase “high-risk firms.” Well, in yesterday’s announcement about what actually took place… Continue Reading
By Ken Berg on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,NCLA,SECMy partner, Ken Berg, writes about his recent meeting with the NCLA, a group that anyone who has an administrative practice should be familiar with. – Alan I had the privilege of being invited to attend in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2019, the inaugural panel discussion hosted by a relatively new nonprofit civil rights… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,Rogue rep,Rule 3170,Taping RuleYesterday, FINRA sent a seemingly innocuous memo to member firms giving a brief outline of the subjects that its Board will take up at its meeting this week in sunny Boca Raton, Florida. (Wait, the Board isn’t meeting in Washington, as it normally does, but, rather, in south Florida? Oh, right, it’s February. Much better… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Cybersecurity,FINRAYesterday, two of my colleagues here at Ulmer, Fran Goins and Michael Hoenig, published an article in @BLaw Insight in response to a recent report by FINRA outlining the best practices for BDs to deal with cyber threats. Since this is undoubtedly a subject of considerable interest to many of you, I wanted to share it right… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,Rule 8210I have been waiting for a while to write about this issue, since it arose in an Enforcement case I handled for a client, and I wanted the matter to run its full course at FINRA before I started throwing stones. Sadly, there are so many things I could complain about here. The fact that… Continue Reading
By Michael Gross on Posted in Arbitration,FINRADoes FINRA have jurisdiction over me? This is a question that I regularly field at the outset of regulatory engagements. My answer differs depending on a number of factors, including the nature of a person’s role and duties at a firm, his or her registration status, when the alleged misconduct occurred, whether he or she… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,Rule 2165,Rule 4512,Senior InvestorsThe securities industry’s concern over the aging of the U.S. population, specifically, aging investors, has, apparently, reached a fever pitch. Yesterday in New York, SIFMA hosted its “Senior Investor Protection Conference – One Year Later: FINRA Rules 2165 and 4512,” and, for a securities conference, it received pretty extensive news coverage. I saw at least… Continue Reading
