Key online systems of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) were unavailable on Tuesday, Dec. 7, because of an outage at cloud computing provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) that lasted about seven hours, according to alerts from the self-regulatory organization and Amazon. AWS has become a major cloud provider for financial services firms, particularly those… Read More >>
Firm Fined for Alleged Regulation SHO Violations
FINRA, the financial industry’s self-regulatory authority, has charged Wolverine Execution Services with “inaccurately marking sell orders as long rather than short in 18,756 instances.” The firm, based in Chicago, also failed to “document compliance with the locate requirement in 556,388 instances during February 2018,” according to FINRA. Wolverine Execution Services, a subsidiary of Wolverine Trading,… Read More >>
FINRA Alleges Oppenheimer Misrepresented Cost Basis Data
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Oppenheimer & Co. $525,000 on allegations that it “negligently misrepresented” cost basis information for customer account statements and IRS 1099 tax forms and is requiring the firm to bring in a consultant to recommend changes to the procedures, systems, and controls used to track cost basis data…. Read More >>
Stifel Nicolaus Fined $3.6M on UIT Violation Charges
Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., an investment bank, has been fined $3.6 million by FINRA, a regulatory authority for the financial services industry, for allegedly having an inadequate supervisory system in place to detect potentially unsuitable unit investment trust (UIT) rollovers, and also for failing to provide customers with accurate information so they can make… Read More >>
SIFMA & SROs Settle CAT Fight
SIFMA and key securities exchanges/self-regulatory organizations (SROs) have settled a big disagreement over the liability for data breaches that may occur via the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) big data market surveillance initiative. As envisioned, the CAT data repository of securities transaction data would enable regulatory surveillance via “an extensive audit trail that will capture customer… Read More >>
Pandemic Overshadows CAT Reporting Milestone
Broker-dealers can start reporting their securities transaction order data to the big data market surveillance project known as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), but this milestone has been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CAT Operating Committee officially announced earlier this week that the CAT data repository is live for broker-dealer reporting. In addition, securities… Read More >>
Merrill Lynch Fined Over Allegations via IPO Sales
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) reports that it has fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. for allegedly “improperly selling shares” in initial public offerings, or IPOs, to “industry insiders, including its employees’ immediate family members and customers who were brokers at other brokerage firms.” The firm, which offers broker-dealer and investment advisory… Read More >>
FINRA Taps Travelers to Fill Chairman’s Post
FINRA Picks William H. Heyman to Succeed Jack Brennan The self-regulatory organization for brokerages, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), has a new chairman for its board of governors with the unanimous election of William H. Heyman, vice chairman and chief investment officer of The Travelers Companies, Inc. Heyman, who will take over as… Read More >>
Senate Confirms Trump’s Pick for SEC Chairman
Despite opposition from some key Democrats, the U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Walter J. “Jay” Clayton III, a former partner with the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, as the next chairman of the SEC, succeeding Mary Jo White. White served as chair from April 2013 to January 20, 2017 when Donald Trump became… Read More >>
FINRA Fines Broker $2.8M for Audit Trail Violations
Broker-dealer Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith (MLPF&S) will be paying a $2.8 million fine to the self-regulatory organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), for a variety of alleged reporting violations over several years that the firm acknowledges it is addressing. FINRA officials say they are citing MLPF&S for systemic trade reporting problems, including… Read More >>
