Guidance
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The Frequently Asked Questions below are taken directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS FAQ pages. The below are FINRA’s best attempt to highlight the latest SEC FAQs, but additional FAQs may have been published that are not posted on this page. For the latest FAQs on Reg BI and Form CRS, please visit the SEC’s website.
The following FAQ is provided to facilitate firms' compliance with FINRA Rules 5190 (Notification Requirements for Offering Participants), 6275 (Withdrawal of Quotations) and 6435 (Withdrawal of Quotations in an OTC Equity Security in Compliance with SEC Regulation M). A comprehensive overview of these rules and related guidance is set forth in Regulatory Notice 08-74 and Regulatory Notice 12-19.
Background
In 2018, FINRA and the Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education (CE Council) launched an initiative to evaluate enhancements to the CE Program. The overall goal of the program review is to reflect advances in technology and learning theory while continuing to ensure that registered persons receive timely education on the securities business and the regulatory requirements applicable to their respective functions.
The OATS Compliance Report Card is a monthly status report on the number and percentage of:
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Honoraria
FINRA will pay arbitrators honoraria in accordance with the Codes of Procedure. The following page answers the most commonly asked questions regarding honoraria.
The Daily Total Summary Data and Detail Data Download files for the OATS Compliance Report Card provide underlying totals and detail of the data contained in the monthly summary OATS Compliance Report Card.
The tables below represent the data within the Daily Totals Summary Report Card and the Detail Data Download files.
Summary Definitions and Data Fields
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Regulatory Obligations
FINRA Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) requires member firms and their associated persons to use reasonable diligence to determine the “essential facts” about every customer and “the authority of each person acting on behalf of such customer.” Regulatory Notice 11-02 (SEC Approves Consolidated FINRA Rules Governing Know-Your-Customer and Suitability Obligations) advised that firms verify the essential facts about a customer “at intervals reasonably cal
The Municipal Primary Offering Disclosure Report displays statistics about transactions your firm effected with customers during the securities’ Primary Offering Disclosure Period. This report is designed to aid firms in monitoring their compliance with Rule G-32(a) customer disclosure requirements, which apply to all broker-dealers selling offered municipal securities.
FINRA360 has yielded a number of organizational and operational changes aimed at making FINRA a more efficient, more effective regulator.
Regulatory Obligations
Regulation SHO Rules 200 to 204 require firms to address risks relating to market manipulation, market liquidity and investor confidence by regulating excessive and “naked” short sales so that purchasers of securities from short sellers receive their securities positions in a timely manner. Regulation SHO requires firms to appropriately mark their securities orders; confirm that they have deliverable securities to complete short sale transactions; and have a process to close-out fails to deliver within the required timeframes.
The MSRB Due Diligence Report Card is a monthly status report to help firms monitor their issuances being brought to market in order to support firm's due diligence efforts. The report shows how many total issuances have been brought to market and which of those had issuers with previous issuances in the market that are lacking current audited financial filings (LCF) on EMMA. If any of the issuances being brought to market have a previously issued CUSIP LCF, then the current issuance is identified on this report card.
The report offers two alternative views:
Overview
When considering their obligations to provide all available breakpoint discounts on sales of Class A shares of front-end load mutual funds, member firms may review the following Breakpoint Checklist and Breakpoint Worksheet, which may help member firms evaluate their breakpoint compliance programs and confirm whether they are capturing all relevant categories of information to provide customers all available breakpoint discounts.