(For the past two years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cracked down on 25 of the securities industry’s top firms for violating its recordkeeping rules. In fact, during fiscal year 2023 those 25 firms paid a total of $400 million in fines and penalties. The enforcement focus on recordkeeping rules, particularly about the… Read More >>
CFTC Enforcement Unit Urges Higher Penalties
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement has issued an advisory “designed to give enforcement staff guidance on future enforcement resolution recommendations to the Commission.” One long-time securities industry observer summarized the enforcement advisory’s import by saying “The big news here is that the CFTC will no longer be letting firms off the hook… Read More >>
FINRA Fines LPL $3M for Wire Transfer Woes
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined LPL Financial (LPL) $3 million and ordered the firm to pay $100,000 plus interest in restitution because the firm allegedly “failed to reasonably supervise transfers of customer funds to third parties,” according to the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for U.S. broker-dealers. LPL, a FINRA member since 1973, has… Read More >>
NYDFS Bolsters Crypto Fraud Monitoring Tools & Other News
NYDFS Redoubles Crypto Fraud Detection Efforts The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has improved its cryptocurrency fraud detection of New York State-regulated entities via “new insider trading and market manipulation risk monitoring tools,” according to Adrienne A. Harris, superintendent for the NY DFS. The new monitoring tools will help NY DFS detect… Read More >>
UBS Securities Hit With Another FINRA Fine
UBS Securities, a subsidiary of the world’s largest private bank, is in trouble with FINRA, the brokerage industry’s self-regulatory organization (SRO). It’s not the first time. From the regulatory authority’s customary Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC), FINRA alleges: “From September 2015 through January 2019, UBS-S published inaccurate monthly statistics regarding execution of covered… Read More >>
Equitable Pays $50M to Resolve Annuity Fees Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that it has charged Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company with fraud, “for providing account statements to about 1.4 million variable annuity investors that included materially misleading statements and omissions concerning investor fees.” Equitable has agreed to compensate harmed investors, most of whom are public school teachers and staff… Read More >>
SocGen Joins Broadridge’s Repo Platform & Other News
Société Générale Supports Repos via DLT French banking giant Société Générale reports that it is now “live on the distributed ledger technology repo platform” created by vendor Broadridge Financial Solutions. The platform “accelerates the digitization of the global repo market, empowering participants to realize immediate benefits of reduced risk and operational costs and enhanced… Read More >>
SocGen to Revamp Derivatives Clearing & Other News
Société Générale to Deploy FIS Solution Société Générale and systems and services provider FIS report that the French banking giant will be using the FIS Cleared Derivatives Suite for a “strategic transformation of its derivatives clearing back-office.” “As part of the agreement, the investment bank and financial services group will transition their existing derivatives… Read More >>
Congress Mulls Banning Itself from Trading Stocks
Remember that time in 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning and its dangers were not yet widely appreciated? That was when a group of United States Senators received closed-door briefings on the imminent crisis presented by COVID-19. What did these senators do right after their secret briefings? Alert the mostly unsuspecting public? Nope. They… Read More >>
FINRA Alleges DriveWealth Broke Regulation SHO Rules
FINRA, the self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers, has censured and fined DriveWealth Institutional LLC, formerly known as Cuttone & Co., $100,000 for alleged violations of Regulation SHO rules. Last February, DriveWealth Holdings, Inc. acquired Cuttone & Co. and renamed it to DriveWealth Institutional. The renamed firm “specializes in execution services for institutional and broker-dealer clients. The… Read More >>
