FINRA Regulation

FINRA Exec Lays Out FINRA’s Enforcement Agenda

November 1, 2012 | Herskovits, PLLC

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On October 24, 2012, Susan Axelrod (FINRA’s executive vice president, member regulation sales practice) spoke at PLI’s seminar for broker-dealer regulation and enforcement. Broker-dealers and registered representatives should take note because FINRA’s enforcement agenda was made clear. Issues of concern for FINRA include:

Cyber Security

FINRA has seen an uptick in instances where a customer’s email account has been hacked and the perpetrator sends a phony email to a brokerage firm requesting an outbound wire transfer. Given that NASD Rule 3012 requires diligent supervision concerning the outbound transmittal of funds, FINRA requested that “broker-dealers reassess their policies and procedures for accepting instructions to withdraw or transfer funds via electronic means to ensure that they are adequately designed to protect customer accounts from the risk that customers’ email accounts may be compromised and used to send fraudulent transmittal or withdrawal instructions.” (FINRA Regulatory Notice 12-05). In that Notice, FINRA recommended that firms verify that the email was sent by the customer and adopt policies to identify “red flags” such as transfer requests that are out of the ordinary or to an unfamiliar third-party account.

FINRA Provides Guidance for Supervisory Review of Email

October 23, 2012 | Herskovits, PLLC

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FINRA recently released an Acceptance, Waiver and Consent signed by Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. (FINRA Matter No. 2010023096302). The AWC is instructive because it speaks to supervisory review of electronic correspondence and should be considered by broker-dealers when crafting a lexicon-based search system for electronic correspondence.

Background Facts

Deutsche Bank’s Private Client Services division has 16 offices with approximately 240 registered representatives. Deutsche Bank’s Boston office employed a registered representative who engaged in questionable conduct, including: borrowing $220,000 from a customer, issuing personal checks totaling $860,000 which were returned for insufficient funds, failing to repay the customer loan in full, failing to obtain Firm approval to borrow from a customer, and charging personal expenses to a corporate credit card.

FINRA DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS – JUNE 2012 UPDATE

June 19, 2012 | Herskovits, PLLC

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FINRA issued its summary of disciplinary actions reported for June 2012. Certain actions are noteworthy and are indicative of regulatory trends effecting broker-dealers and registered representatives.

Herskovits PLLC comments on the following regulatory actions:

Net Cap Violations