FINRA Expels Broker-Dealer for Numerous Violations of Reg BI and FINRA Rules
6/15/23
By: Michael Ruocco and Tyler Jacobs
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) recently expelled broker-dealer SW Financial and suspended the firm’s CEO. The Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) related to the misconduct alleges that SW Financial exposed customers …
California Finally Mirrors the IRS By Allowing First-Time Penalty Abatement
5/15/23
By Caroline Wu & Elizabeth Lowery
For decades California has refused to enact a statute mirroring that of the IRS which expressly provides taxpayer with first-time abatement of penalties for failure to file tax returns or failure to timely pay …
Tackling Unauthorized Messaging in the Financial Sector
4/20/23
By David Chang
With the growing prevalence and rapid evolution of alternative communication channels, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is now emphasizing the requirement for broker-dealers to retain business-related messages across all mediums. FINRA’s approach mirrors the Securities and …
3/23/23
By Brett Asa
Webull Financial LLC, a freshly minted online brokerage, came to rise in 2018 by promoting 0% commission trading of stocks, options, and crypto. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) latest News Release1, …
Responding to a Growing Investment Advisor Industry
3/9/23
By: Andrew Iles
The fields of investment management and financial advising are ever growing. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently stated that the number of Registered Investment Advisors (“RIAs”) has ballooned by 25% since 2016, and now covers …
FINRA Seeks to Increase Control Over Expungement of Customer Dispute Disclosures
8/23/22
By: Leo Kogan
Federal law mandates that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) collect and maintain information about the qualification, employment and customer complaint histories of brokers and other registered financial services professionals. To that end, FINRA maintains the Central …
Know when to fold ’em: spotting the first sign of troubled credit
2/16/22
By: Travis Knobbe
All too often, we get recovery files months, sometimes years, after the tipping point when assets begin depleting faster than they can be preserved to maximize lender recovery. To be fair, there are times when credit monitoring …
The preservation of appellate rights is critical to any trial
2/15/22
In a rare trade secret appeal involving two competitors in the alcohol sale software business, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit provided a not-so-subtle reminder to all attorneys that correctly preserving appellate …
1/10/22
By: Kirsten Patzer and Courtney Mazzio
On October 27, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced an update to the rules implemented by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act expanding the definition of “financial institutions” under the Financial Privacy Rule and requiring these …
Preparing for the end game when underwriting new credits
1/10/22
By: Travis Knobbe
Most financial institutions we have represented over the years make a fine-line distinction between loan officers and asset recovery officers. In many instances, this distinction makes sense. If a loan officer considers too openly the risk for …
Squeezing blood from stones: an introduction to creditors’ rights
12/15/21
By: Travis Knobbe
Creditors’ rights, practiced properly, is a truly unique intersection in the law. When I clerked with the Honorable William F. Stone, Jr., in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia, he said a …
Bill banning mandatory arbitration in financial services one step closer to becoming Law
12/6/21
By: Leo G. Kogan
Most retail investors have signed a customer agreement requiring that all claims against their broker or financial advisor be resolved through arbitration. Last week, the House Financial Services’ Committee took a step toward making such mandatory arbitration provisions a thing of the …