Notices

Regulatory Notice 21-17 (Thu, 29 Apr 2021)
Summary FINRA is committed to supporting efforts by broker-dealer industry participants to foster diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity.1 FINRA seeks comment on any aspects of our rules, operations and administrative processes that may create unintended barriers to greater diversity and inclusion in the broker-dealer industry or that might have unintended disparate impacts on those within the industry.  Questions regarding this Notice should be directed to:
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Special Notice – 4/28/21 (Wed, 28 Apr 2021)
Summary FINRA conducts annual elections to fill positions on its Regional Committees, the Small Firm Advisory Committee (SFAC), the National Adjudicatory Council (NAC)1 and the FINRA Board of Governors (FINRA Board). This Notice provides:
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Regulatory Notice 21-16 (Wed, 21 Apr 2021)
Summary FINRA reminds member firms about requirements when using predispute arbitration agreements for customer accounts. Where member firms use mandatory arbitration clauses in their customer agreements, FINRA rules establish minimum disclosure requirements regarding the use of such clauses and prohibit predispute arbitration agreements from including conditions that, among other things, limit or contradict FINRA rules. In addition, FINRA rules do not allow class action claims in FINRA arbitration.
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Regulatory Notice 21-15 (Fri, 09 Apr 2021)
Summary With the recent increase in the number of customers seeking to open brokerage accounts and trade options, FINRA reminds members of the requirements for determining whether to approve a customer to trade options. Regardless of whether the account is self-directed or options are being recommended, members must perform due diligence on the customer and collect information about the customer to support a determination that options trading is appropriate for the customer.
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Advanced Analytics: Transforming Advertising Regulation (Tue, 04 May 2021)
A three-day employee hackathon event a few years ago resulted in an idea that has since transformed the way FINRA’s Advertising Regulation group does its work.  On this episode, we are joined by Amy Sochard, Vice President of FINRA’s Advertising Regulation program, and Lisa Fair and Saugata Chakraborty of FINRA’s Technology, to hear about the impressive collaborative effort to build a tool to apply advanced analytics and machine learning to the review of firm advertising and public communications materials.  Resources mentioned in this episode: Advertising Regulation Topic Page Episode 53: Advertising Regulation Episode 43: The Createathon
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At, By or Through: Fraud in the Broker-Dealer Industry (Tue, 20 Apr 2021)
The brokerage industry has an important role to play when it comes to detecting, preventing and reporting fraud. It's not just a regulatory concern, but an important reputational concern for individual firms and the industry as a whole.  On this episode, we hear from Greg Ruppert, head of FINRA's National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection Programs, about recent trends in the fraud space and how firms can work to protect themselves and their customers. Resources mentioned in this episode: FTC Scam Alerts FBI Fraud Resources IC3 Annual Reports Episode 60: Introducing Greg Ruppert and the NCFC Episode 71: Overlapping Risks, Part I: AML and Cybersecurity Episode 73: Overlapping Risks, Part II: AML and Elder Financial Exploitation
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