According to a recent FINRA disciplinary actions notice, a registered representative from Montpelier Virginia was barred from any FINRA member in all capacities for using an imposter to take his continuing education courses for him. Read More

As you enter the second half of the year, now may be as good of a time as ever for your team to conduct a mid-year compliance check-up to identify any areas that need attention. Need a little inspiration? Here are five focus areas we don’t see falling off your compliance radar any time soon, but especially for the remainder of 2021.   Read More

Several more states are moving quickly to add a best-interest annuity sales standard to its regulation of insurance products. The latest states to adopt the best-interest model law put forth by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners are Alabama and Michigan. Read More

The Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education (Council) recently published its Q2 2021 Firm Element Advisory (FEA). The report features many of the same topics discussed in its Firm Element Advisory from last year. All new material is denoted by a "(New!)" next to the appropriate title.  Read More

In early June, FINRA filed a proposal with the SEC which would require, among other changes, that the Regulatory Element of continuing education be completed annually rather than every three years and that individuals be able to maintain their qualification for a longer period of time following the termination of a registration. Read More

On June 4, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published Regulatory Notice 21-19 (the Notice), which requests comment on certain significant proposed changes to short position and stock loan reporting. The proposed changes to Rule 4560 would increase the frequency of short-interest reports from twice a month to weekly or even daily. The change would require clearing firms to report synthetic short exposure - bets made against shares via derivatives - in firm and customer accounts. Read More

The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, Third Department, has struck down the New York Department of Financial Services’ Regulation 187, based on the finding that the rule is unconstitutionally vague. Read More

FINRA has received an increasing number of reports regarding ATO incidents, which involve bad actors using compromised customer information, such as login credentials, to gain unauthorized entry to customers’ online brokerage accounts. As such, the self-regulatory authority has released a Regulatory Notice aimed at protecting customers from online account takeover attempts. Read More

On April 9, 2021, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (“EXAMS”) published a Risk Alert summarizing its observations from recent examinations of investment advisers, registered investment companies, and private funds engaged in ESG investing. The Risk Alert is the latest in a series of announcements from the regulator that demonstrate its focus on investor protection in connection with climate and ESG investing. Read More

Eversheds Sutherland recently completed its annual review of the disciplinary actions reported by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and found that in 2020 the amount of fines, restitution and cases increased compared with 2019, reversing the downward trend from the past few years - even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More