JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMC) will be paying a $2.75 million penalty to settle SEC allegations that its Neovest subsidiary was acting as an unregistered broker-dealer for more than a decade in addition to its role as an order and execution management system (OEMS) vendor. This case marks the first time that the SEC has penalized… Read More >>
Robinhood Pays $70M to Resolve FINRA Case
Self-regulatory organization (SRO) FINRA has fined online brokerage Robinhood Financial $57 million and required $12.6 million in restitution to investors allegedly harmed by the firm, which says that it has improved its platform stability, and neither admits nor denies the charges of the settlement. “The sanctions represent the largest financial penalty ever ordered by FINRA… Read More >>
FINRA Puts an Expiration Date on OATS
Self-regulatory organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is quietly putting an expiration date of September 1, 2021, on the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) as the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) reaches a new level of reliability. In typical legalese, FINRA officials released the following Regulatory Notice 21-21: “Effective September 1, 2021, FINRA is amending… Read More >>
Do Regulators Need to Clarify CCO Liability?
“Regulators, compliance officers and the investing public would all benefit from the adoption of a framework for evaluating potential cases against chief compliance officers (CCOs) in the financial sector.” So says the New York City Bar Association, which has offered a proposal for doing just that. The proposal, a follow-up to the committee’s February 2020… Read More >>
Stopping the Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
Among the most troubling issues that FTF News reports upon via our enforcement stories is the sad truth that a lot of very bad people prey upon the elderly to steal their life savings via securities trading scams. To help combat this problem, three key organizations for the securities industry — FINRA, the SEC, and… Read More >>
Firm Fined for Alleged Regulation SHO Violations
FINRA, the financial industry’s self-regulatory authority, has charged Wolverine Execution Services with “inaccurately marking sell orders as long rather than short in 18,756 instances.” The firm, based in Chicago, also failed to “document compliance with the locate requirement in 556,388 instances during February 2018,” according to FINRA. Wolverine Execution Services, a subsidiary of Wolverine Trading,… Read More >>
Rep’s Strategies Spur FINRA Charges & Fine for Firm
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has hit a brokerage in Cincinnati, Ohio with a censure, a fine of $275,000, and the obligation to make more than $1 million in customer restitution. The broker is the O.N. Equity Sales Company, Inc. (ONESCO), which “offers various investment products, including deferred variable annuities, to the public through its 760… Read More >>
Capitolis Taps State Street for Key Post
Capitolis Hires James Reilly A software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor, Capitolis has hired industry veteran James Reilly from State Street and appointed him as its new head of equity and total return swaps (TRS) funding solutions, officials say. Reilly has two decades of capital markets and financial technology experience. The Capitolis networking software helps firms find liquidity… Read More >>
FINRA Alleges Oppenheimer Misrepresented Cost Basis Data
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Oppenheimer & Co. $525,000 on allegations that it “negligently misrepresented” cost basis information for customer account statements and IRS 1099 tax forms and is requiring the firm to bring in a consultant to recommend changes to the procedures, systems, and controls used to track cost basis data…. Read More >>
New SEC Enforcement Director Abruptly Resigns
Just one week after she was appointed, Alex Oh has resigned her position as the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Oh cited ”personal reasons,” according to a commission statement. However, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other media report that the abrupt resignation was prompted by the… Read More >>