A couple of years ago, I complained about PIABA’s effort to make expungement even more difficult to obtain.  Well, fast forward to June 1, and, as Chris Seps explains here, the SEC has approved the first proposed expungement rule change from FINRA, one that appears to serve no purpose other than to generate money for poor FINRA. – Alan   As many of you know, FINRA has recently proposed many rule changes for the expungement…

I have blogged before about hold recommendations.  Surprisingly – at least to me – the statistics I get from the publisher of this blog reveal that more people have read that particular post than anything else I have written since I started this thing a few years ago.  That has to mean something, right?  So, when I saw a recent SEC settlement that involved hold recommendations, I figured it was worth looking into and…

Seems like just days ago I blogged about Jessica Hopper and her commitment to providing restitution to customers.  Since I posted that blog, there were two other settlements (which I added to that blog as updates) in which FINRA again seemed to prioritize restitution over the imposition of a fine.  Yesterday, however, FINRA announced a blockbuster settlement with Merrill Lynch that should serve to eliminate any doubt that anyone may still have about Ms. Hopper’s…

Two years ago, when it was just an ugly rule proposal, I blogged about FINRA’s intent to modify its MAP rules to “Incentivize Payment of Arbitration Awards.”  Sadly, FINRA once again showed it spinelessness by pushing these rule amendments through, ignoring the concerns of its own member firms.  They are now not just rule proposals, but actual rules that become effective in September.  It is worth revisiting this transparent display by FINRA to curry favor…

Thanks to Blaine not only for attending this conference, but for actually listening, so he could share with you the insights he gleaned from the local securities regulators here in Chicago. – Alan While much of the broker-dealer world has been trying to figure out how to protect the financial welfare of their customers, in addition to watching Netflix and searching in vain for Lysol wipes online, our trusty securities regulators have been hard at…

Last year, I wrote a piece called “Wedbush Learns That It’s Not Enough Just To Spot Red Flags.”  As the title suggests, it analyzed an SEC decision in which Wedbush was sanctioned because it failed in several respects to follow up on certain red flags it saw that were indicative of potential misconduct. I am now following another SEC case, this one involving a CCO of a broker-dealer, that highlights a similar, but slightly different,…

I may have said this before in another post, but in my opinion, whether a baseball umpire is good or bad is not a matter of whether he has a low strikezone, a high strikezone, or a wide one.  What matters is that whatever that umpire deems to be a strike vs. a ball is consistent from inning to inning, pitcher to pitcher, game to game.  Because that provides predictability.  When a pitcher and batter…