A SIMPLE SOLUTION I'm appreciative that FINRA and the SEC have considered the market implications of complex products and how they are offered to the investing community. There are certain products (i.e., leveraged and inverse ETF's) which investors should understand in more depth. That said, it is not appropriate for a third party to arbitrarily decide whether investors are capable of understanding the intricacies of a particular investment; by and large, investors are intelligent and certainly able to manage their own affairs. A simple solution is to simply put the onus on investors that they understand the risks before they invest via an annual self-certification so 1) investors understand it's a "complex" product, 2) the B/D community doesn't not have to decide or take risk, and 3) these products are still available to the millions of investors who have used them to their advantage for decades. In addition to the existing educational papers & regulatory disclosures [which are quite strong], these steps will insure all investors have suitable risk awareness and these products survive. It is not appropriate to unduly restrict access to products the investing community has embraced for so long.
Anonymous Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
A SIMPLE SOLUTION I'm appreciative that FINRA and the SEC have considered the market implications of complex products and how they are offered to the investing community. There are certain products (i.e., leveraged and inverse ETF's) which investors should understand in more depth. That said, it is not appropriate for a third party to arbitrarily decide whether investors are capable of understanding the intricacies of a particular investment; by and large, investors are intelligent and certainly able to manage their own affairs. A simple solution is to simply put the onus on investors that they understand the risks before they invest via an annual self-certification so 1) investors understand it's a "complex" product, 2) the B/D community doesn't not have to decide or take risk, and 3) these products are still available to the millions of investors who have used them to their advantage for decades. In addition to the existing educational papers & regulatory disclosures [which are quite strong], these steps will insure all investors have suitable risk awareness and these products survive. It is not appropriate to unduly restrict access to products the investing community has embraced for so long.