Here are my thoughts after Day One.
At a minimum, you would have to admit that FINRA has a sense of humor: the song they played when Rick Ketchum, FINRA’s Chairman, was introduced to give his keynote speech was “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” the 1975 song by War. Predictably, there were few laughs after…
I am in DC, to attend the annual FINRA conference that starts tomorrow morning. I have been to many of these over the years, formerly as the Director of NASD’s Atlanta District Office, but, over the last ten years, as a lawyer who defends brokers and broker-dealers against, among other things, FINRA allegations of misconduct.…
The SEC has faced mounting criticism recently for its increasing use of administrative proceedings in enforcement matters. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the agency, challenging its forum selection. Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York has made it very clear he has serious fairness and constitutionality concerns…
Look, I get that nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes, it’s just human nature. I told my kids when they were growing up the same thing I tell my associates: it’s ok to make mistakes, it’s just not ok to repeat them. Sadly, my broker-dealer clients live in a heavily regulated environment, so when they…
Just a week ago, I ran a post about FINRA’s Sanction Guidelines, suggesting that they appear to have no relevance anymore, given the vast disparity between fines that FINRA is actually imposing in settled cases, on the one hand, and the supposed maximum fines described in the Sanction Guidelines, on the other. In an excellent…
Over the last few months and years, securities regulators have repeatedly emphasized the special care and attention senior investors[1] should be afforded by broker-dealers and their associated persons. As part of that focus, on April 15, 2015, FINRA and the SEC Staff published their National Senior Investor Initiative Report. The report highlighted recent…
At a recent industry conference in New York, members of FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers gathered to discuss current issues and topics relevant to FINRA disciplinary hearings. During one of the sessions, a Hearing Officer panelist lamented the format of the Answers he typically receives from the respondents in his cases. Almost without exception, respondents…
FINRA recently passed an amendment to the Code of Arbitration Procedure which provides that arbitrators no longer have to wait until the end of a case to make a disciplinary referral. Now, panelists are free to make such a referral in the middle of a hearing!
My first observation is: was there really a need…
