Guidance

Short sales by options professionals established during the course of bona fide market making activities are exempt from the affirmative determination requirements, regardless of whether the short sales constitute a permitted offset under Regulation T.

Requirements under NASD Rule 3030 (formerly Article III, Section 43) for investment seminar activities conducted by dually registered persons that charge fees from participants.

Clarification of NASD Notice to Members 94-44 to situations in which a dually registered person maintains discretionary trading authority, determines portfolio changes, and prepares trade instructions for customer accounts and charges the accounts an asset-based fee.

Whether a proposed standby purchase agreement entered into between affiliate of a member and an issuer in connection with a public offering of the issuer's common stock could constitute an option.

Cash rebates issued to pension plan customers with respect to secondary market transactions in outstanding securities (under former Article III, Section 24, now Rule 2740 and IM-2740).

Overview

When considering their obligations to provide all available breakpoint discounts on sales of Class A shares of front-end load mutual funds, member firms may review the following Breakpoint Checklist and Breakpoint Worksheet, which may help member firms evaluate their breakpoint compliance programs and confirm whether they are capturing all relevant categories of information to provide customers all available breakpoint discounts.

Background

Another issue we are studying through the lens of FINRA360 is branch office inspections. The responsibility of firms to supervise their associated persons is a critical component of federal broker-dealer regulation. Over the last few years, and in comments we have recently received, firms have raised questions about the manner in which they must conduct internal inspections, particularly for those offices or locations with a limited number of associated persons or where only operational or limited supervisory functions take place.

Timely and complete reporting of all information required by the FINRA By-Laws and rules, as well as the federal securities laws is critical. The Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, other self-regulatory organizations and state securities regulators use the information to make licensing and registration decisions, among other uses. FINRA also uses the information in BrokerCheck, which investors use for researching the professional backgrounds of firms and brokers.

In Regulatory Notice 23-17, FINRA announced its decision, effective November 30, 2023, to discontinue collecting INSITE data, pursuant to Rule 4540, at this time. As a result, effective November 30, 2023, the Canceled and As-Of Trades Report was retired from the FINRA Report Center.