MyComplianceOffice Blog

Firms are required to renew the FINRA and state/jurisdiction registrations of their registered reps every year, and the deadlines are coming up fast. Now’s the time to make sure that you have the right framework in place to manage your renewals on time, cost effectively, and efficiently—this year and moving forward.

The 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report provides firms with insight into findings from FINRA’s regulatory operations programs including Member Supervision, Market Regulation and Enforcement. Addressing a broad range of topics spanning conflicts of interest, disclosures, communication practices and crypto asset compliance, the report contains information that firms can use to strengthen their compliance programs in 2024 and beyond.

It’s 4PM on a Friday. You were hoping to wrap up for the day to start your weekend, but there’s a deal to be closed. The CEO is looking for confirmation that there are no conflicts around outside business activities or any other potential conflicts of interest, and he needs that info stat.

It should come as no surprise to compliance teams that the management of Books and Records is in the regulatory spotlight. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged several large Wall Street firms with widespread record keeping failures. The firms will be required to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and also must make substantive improvements to their compliance policies and procedures around books and records.

According to Compliance Expert Elin Cherry from Elinphant, “anyone who’s actually worn the hat of the Chief Compliance Officer is very aware of the concerns of CCO liability.”  When it comes to regulatory liability, the line takes a stop at the CCO. So it’s critical that the CCO is both proactive and consistent with making senior management aware of what’s going on with Compliance within the organization. According to Cherry, rigorous issue reporting combined with regular meetings sets the tone for how your management hears you and opens the door better conversations.