Global Relay, a provider of communications compliance solutions, is embracing a generative artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology provider to help its financial services clients, officials say. For instance, the self-regulatory organization (SRO) Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has requirements for overseeing A.I. chatbot communications, “mandating that AI-driven communications must adhere to the same supervision, content, and… Read More >>
UBS Securities Hit With Another FINRA Fine
UBS Securities, a subsidiary of the world’s largest private bank, is in trouble with FINRA, the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory organization (SRO). It’s not the first time. From the regulatory authority’s customary Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC), FINRA alleges: “From September 2015 through January 2019, UBS-S published inaccurate monthly statistics regarding execution of covered… Read More >>
FINRA Fines Two Crowdfunding Portals
FINRA is taking aim at two companies known for crowdfunding. First, a definition of crowdfunding, courtesy of Investopedia: “Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture. Crowdfunding makes use of … social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together,… Read More >>
AWS Outage Halted FINRA Systems on Dec. 7
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 >>
