Finra Keeping Pressure on Complex Products in 2014
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law Offices:
Finra's 2014 annual list of examination priorities re-emphasizes common trouble spots for broker-dealers, and ratchets up enforcement in key areas, including interest-rate-sensitive products and rogue brokers.
Nontraded real estate investment trusts (“REIT”), complex structured products, emerging-market investment funds, mortgage-backed securities, long-duration bond funds and municipal securities are among Finra's top priorities.
The new twist this year was Finra's focus on fixed-income products, emerging markets debt and hedging products that could be susceptible to interest rate volatility.
Finra also said that it will expand a program implemented last year to target rogue brokers who land at new firms after being disciplined or fired, which includes reviewing the firm's due diligence conducted in the hiring process for the adequacy of supervision of higher-risk brokers — including whether the brokers have been placed under heightened supervision —and placing particular focus on these brokers' clients' accounts in conducting reviews of sale practices.
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