A Trio of FINRA Notices Focused on Capital Formation Issues

April 21, 2017 Anna T. Pinedo Leave a comment

On April 12, 2017, FINRA released three regulatory notices for comment that propose amendments to various FINRA rules affecting capital formation. In connection with its release of the notices, FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook noted FINRA’s continuing commitment to assessing its regulations and their role in facilitating capital formation. This initiative is part of the comprehensive self-evaluation and improvement initiative that FINRA announced several months ago called the FINRA 360 initiative. The initiative, FINRA’s recent request for comment on its engagement efforts, and these regulatory notices certainly reflect a new tone. In all three notices, as discussed further below, FINRA specifically requests that commenters address the economic impacts of the rules, including costs and benefits, and the specific effects on the capital formation process.

Caveat Compliance: Can Firms Rely on Advice Received from Compliance Consultants?

April 17, 2017 Clifford E. Kirsch Leave a comment

Broker-dealers (BDs) and investment advisers (IAs) regularly hire compliance consultants to obtain advice about regulatory requirements. A recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) enforcement proceeding against an investment adviser (IA) calls into question whether firms may rely on compliance consultants as a defense to violating the law. However, if firms take proper steps, BDs and IAs may still be able to retain consultants and defend themselves based on the advice they receive. Otherwise, “caveat emptor” (as the saying goes) or “caveat compliance” (as the SEC seems to be saying).

The Final Rule: Delayed But (Perhaps) Not Denied

April 10, 2017 Clifford E. Kirsch Leave a comment

On April 4, 2017, the Department of Labor released its final rule postponing the applicability date of its new “investment advice” fiduciary definition and related exemptions. This extension, which was published in the April 7 Federal Register, generally delayed the applicability dates under the rule for 60 days, until June 9, 2017, and also modified limited but important conditions in the rule for 2017.