Posts Tagged ‘finra’
FINRA Fines Firm $10M on Gift Spending
We have a great case study this week for compliance and internal control folks worried about lavish spending on gifts and entertainment: FINRA just fined a financial services firm $10 million for providing clients luxury meals and event tickets in exchange for business deals, and for a weak recordkeeping system that allowed employees to cover…
Read MoreFINRA Sanctions Two Compliance Officers
Corporate compliance officers are always interested in regulatory enforcement actions against one of their own, so today let’s take a close look at an enforcement action against two compliance officers handed down earlier this week for poor oversight of their firm’s compliance program. The enforcement action came from FINRA, the regulator for broker-dealer firms. The…
Read MoreMore Tips on Third-Party Risk
FINRA, the regulator for broker-dealer firms, published its annual report on regulatory oversight issues this week — and to little surprise, the report included a section on third-party risk and the internal controls that your firm should consider to keep those risks in check. The advice is useful to anyone in any business sector, so…
Read MoreLessons on Effective Supervision
Radical Compliance rarely looks at corporate misconduct as obscure as a broker-dealer improperly trading in the market for U.S. Treasurys, but trust me on this: a FINRA enforcement action last week on exactly that issue does indeed offer the larger compliance community a few lessons worth learning. Let’s take a look. The broker-dealer in question…
Read MoreFINRA Talks Cyber Risks
FINRA, the regulator for broker-dealer firms that every other compliance professional should follow anyway, has given us yet another piece of nifty guidance: its annual report on regulatory examinations, brimming with advice about risks related to cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and other issues. Like most other financial regulators, FINRA examines the compliance programs of businesses under…
Read MoreFINRA’s Olive Branch on CCO Liability
FINRA, the regulator for broker-dealer firms, is trying to ease tensions over chief compliance officer liability with a new alert stressing that FINRA typically will not bring enforcement actions against CCOs personally because compliance officers don’t inherently have a supervisory role at their firms. FINRA published the alert late last week, after several pleas from…
Read MoreNew FINRA Guidance on Pandemic Risks
Another day, another gumdrop of guidance from financial regulators that’s worth reading for the whole compliance community. This time it’s FINRA, which published a bulletin Monday reminding broker-dealer firms about how to manage pandemic risk. FINRA has Rule 4370 for broker-dealers, which requires them to draft and maintain a business continuity plan. That rule doesn’t…
Read MoreAll the Cool Kids Worry About Fintech Now
Finally, proof that U.S. regulators can grasp new trends or stay current on modern business issues: with startling speed and coordination, every regulator who’s any regulator has started worrying about fintech. “Fintech” is startup-speak for financial technology, a branch of the financial world that was huge already, and for some reason has suddenly captivated regulators attention all over again.…
Read MoreImplementing Compliance for Robo-Advisers: 4 Points
Well, so much for automating your investment advisers out of a job and not worrying about that part of the business any more. Last week FINRA published new guidance about robo-advisers, or in agency parlance, “digital investment advice”—the automated investment tools financial firms offer to customers so they can self-pilot stock portfolios, IRA accounts, and…
Read MoreMeeting FINRA’s Focus on Culture for 2016 Reviews
Good news for compliance officers joyously eager to participate in your firm’s FINRA reviews this year: FINRA has just published its examination priorities for 2016, and you will be involved up to your eyeballs. FINRA grouped its exam priorities into the categories of culture and ethics; risk management and controls; and liquidity. None of those is…
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