When I am engaged to defend a case, whether it’s a customer arbitration or a regulatory complaint, my clients typically get to the point, sooner or later, where they ask me two questions: (1) what do I think about their chances of winning, and (2) what’s it gonna cost me. In many matters, the answer
SEC
Time Never Matters To Regulators, Until It Does
By Alan Wolper on
As the song goes, time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future. While Steve Miller may not have had FINRA and the SEC in mind when he wrote that lyric, the shoe certainly fits. Because here’s the thing about the passage of time, at least in FINRA/SEC world: typically, regulators pay it little attention. …
Determining Chief Compliance Officer Liability Isn’t Really That Confounding
By Alan Wolper on
About a month ago, the SEC announced a settlement in a modest little case that has, nevertheless, managed to garner a lot of attention. This is a result of the fact that one of the respondents was the CCO, i.e., the Chief Compliance Officer, of the co-respondent RIA. Determining the particular circumstances under which CCOs…
Equitable’s Settlement With The SEC Demonstrates That A Single Customer Complaint Can Serve As Notice Of A Systemic Issue
By Alan Wolper on
Last week I posted a blog about the dangers of not heeding findings made during a regulatory exam, at least findings of clear, undisputable compliance issues that cannot be meaningfully defended. Today I am writing to highlight a corollary rule: if one customer points out the existence of a real problem, again, a clear problem…
A Sad Story Of Regulators Simultaneously Doing Too Much And Too Little
By Alan Wolper on
Not too long ago, a single, small BD experienced a bizarre combination of regulatory overzealousness and regulatory indifference, by the SEC and FINRA, respectively. These things, sadly, happen all the time, but what happened to this unfortunate firm presents an excellent case study in regulators who simply do not wield their considerable prosecutorial discretion in…
Securities America SEC Settlement Raises Prospect Of New Supervisory Standard
By Alan Wolper on
There have been tons of cases where firms got in trouble – in AML trouble, which is one the worst kinds of trouble – for failing to be sufficiently on top of third-party wires, i.e., where a customer wires money not to himself but to someone else. In a change of pace, last week, the…
SEC Settlement Is A Wake-Up Call To Review Outdated Procedures
By Alan Wolper on
Most securities regulations, by design, create a gray world where compliance is not crystal-clear, but, rather, subject to interpretation. After all, what you think constitutes “reasonable” supervision and what FINRA or the SEC think is reasonable may very well be two extremely different things. Indeed, it is the existence of subjective standards of conduct like…
Are We Looking At The End Of Mandatory Arbitration? That’d Be OK With Me
By Alan Wolper on
Posted in Arbitration, FINRA
As everyone knows, back in the 1980s, broker-dealers fought hard for the ability to include in a customer agreement a clause mandating that all disputes be dealt with in the arbitration forum, rather than in court. It was not an easy fight, as to require a customer to arbitrate means that certain rights that would…
SEC Not Only Reverses FINRA Disciplinary Action, But Provides Blueprint For Respondents To Use In Their Defense Of Similar Claims
By Alan Wolper on
My friend and former colleague, Brian Rubin, publishes annually his analysis of FINRA Enforcement cases, spotting trends in terms of the number and types of matters it brings, the sanctions meted out, etc. It is an excellent tool, and eagerly anticipated by lots of us who practice in this industry. One of the hard parts…
SEC 2021 Exam Priorities
By Heidi VonderHeide on
Thanks to Heidi for today’s post. – Alan
Today, the SEC put out its 2021 Exam Priorities, available here. It is about 40 pages long and covers a lot of topics. While I encourage everyone to read through the document, here are the primary focus items for 2021:
Overarching Themes / Focal Points:
- Regulation
…