Among the criticisms I have leveled against FINRA are (1) that it is increasingly acting like a claimant’s arbitration attorney, by taking every possible opportunity to blame member firms for losses incurred by investors when other palpable reasons for those
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The 411 On FINRA Rule 4111
Well, Memorial Day is just past us, so we all know what that means: it’s time for FINRA to conduct its first annual assessment of its member firms to determine whether they should be branded a “Restricted” firm under new
FINRA’s Fixation On Unpaid Arbitration Awards Has Morphed Into Something More Dangerous
Shortly, I hope to get around to drafting a blog post about FINRA’s latest demonstration of abasement to PIABA and claimants’ counsel everywhere, namely new Rule 4111. But, that rule is such a monstrosity that it will take a little
More Thoughts On The Age Of FINRA Arbitrators
Not too long ago, I wrote a piece complaining about (among other things) the fact that the potential arbitrators that FINRA rolled out to the parties in a particular arbitration I was handling skewed juuuuuuust a bit towards the older
Some Ideas In Response To FINRA’s Recent “Discussion Paper” On Expungement
FINRA recently published a “Discussion Paper” on expungement of customer dispute information in which it outlines its plans going forward on revising the expungement process. Expungement_Discussion_Paper.pdf (finra.org) (Let me just start by applauding FINRA for trying hard to get this
Highlights From SIFMA’s Compliance And Legal Seminar 2022
Thanks to Chris for not only making the personal sacrifice of traveling from frigid Chicago to sunny Florida to attend the SIFMA Compliance and Legal conference last week, but for providing these helpful comments about the sessions he attended. –
Lack Of Diversity In FINRA Arbitration Panels, Or, How Many Old, White Guys Does It Take To Hear A Case?
Let me say at the outset that I, myself, am an old (by most people’s definition, anyway), white man. So, selfishly, I’ve got nothing against old, white men. But, the fact is that FINRA arbitration panels are disproportionately populated by
When It Comes To Paying Commissions Only To Registered Persons, You Can’t Do Indirectly What You Can’t Do Directly. Or Can You?
Let’s talk about commissions today. Or, as they are sometimes referred to, transaction based compensation. Specifically, who can receive commissions. Actually, that’s not phrased correctly. The correct phrasing of this issue, courtesy of FINRA Rule 2040, would be: to
FINRA Continues To Turn Its Back On Its Members By Failing To Pass A Popular Rule
There are certain topics that broker-dealers have been encountering for decades, yet continue unnecessarily to wrestle with due to the absence of clear guidance from the regulators. I have written about one such topic before, and that’s the fuzzy line
Filing A Frivolous Customer Arbitration Carries Real Monetary Risks
Here is a very interesting piece from Chris about the fact that some customers who file arbitrations may come to learn the hard way that even when their attorney takes the case on a continency fee basis, they still have