WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has filed a complaint against Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities Inc. for systemic supervisory and anti-money laundering (AML) violations in connection with providing direct market access and sponsored access to broker-dealers and non-registered market participants.
News Releases & Statements
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced the results of voting that took place at its 2014 Annual Meeting today in Washington, DC. In accordance with FINRA By-Laws, firms elected two Governors, one from among the small firms and one from among the large firms. FINRA also named two new public Governors to its Board of Governors. Governors are appointed or elected to three-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
Governors Elected
WASHINGTON — Fifty military spouses throughout the United States and overseas have been awarded the FINRA Investor Education Foundation's 2014 Military Spouse Fellowship. The FINRA Foundation fellowship provides spouses with the training necessary to earn the AFC® (Accredited Financial Counselor) designation. This accreditation will provide these military spouses with marketable job skills and the resources and experience they need to help military families build brighter financial futures.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a new rule prohibiting firms and registered representatives from conditioning settlement of a customer dispute on—or otherwise compensating a customer for—the customer's agreement to consent to, or not to oppose, the firm's or representative's request to expunge such information from the Central Registration Depository (CRD™) system.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today the formation of a 13-member Arbitration Task Force to consider possible enhancements to its arbitration forum to improve the transparency, impartiality and efficiency of FINRA's securities arbitration forum for all participants.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has barred Kenneth Ronald Allen, a former equity trader at First New York Securities L.L.C., from the securities industry for trading Japanese securities on the basis of material, non-publicized information that he received from a corporate insider.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, L.P. $800,000 for failing to have reasonably designed written policies and procedures in place to prevent trade-throughs of protected quotations in NMS stocks from November 2008 through August 2011 in connection with trading in its proprietary alternative trading system, SIGMA-X.
WASHINGTON – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today began publicly disseminating Rule 144A transaction data in corporate debt securities, bringing transparency to a market that had previously operated in the dark. 144A transactions – resales of restricted corporate debt securities to large institutions called qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) – account for a significant portion of the volume in corporate debt securities.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that a FINRA hearing panel has expelled Washington, D.C.-based Success Trade Securities, Inc. from membership and barred its CEO and President, Fuad Ahmed, for the fraudulent sale of promissory notes and for creating a Ponzi scheme.
WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. $8 million for failing to waive mutual fund sales charges for certain charities and retirement accounts. FINRA also ordered Merrill Lynch to pay $24.4 million in restitution to affected customers, in addition to $64.8 million the firm has already repaid to harmed investors.