Financial Institution Litigation

A Connecticut federal jury just answered one of the biggest questions on the minds of cryptocurrency investors, developers, and regulators – are cryptocurrencies securities? The jury concluded that Paycoin and several cryptocurrency mining-related assets are not securities.

On June 30, 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued national priorities for the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) policy (the “Priorities”).[i]

On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (the “NDAA”), after overriding a presidential veto. Within the NDAA is the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AMLA”), which introduces substantial reforms to U.S. anti-money laundering (“AML”) and counter-terrorism financing (“CFT”) laws.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North America Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) put together a task force in April 2020 specifically targeted to use “online investigative techniques to identify websites and social media posts that may be offering or promoting fraudulent offerings, investment frauds, or improper unregistered regulated activities” which were related to any aspect of COVID-19.

FINRA recently issued Regulatory Notice 20-17 (“Reg. Notice 20-17”) addressing changes to FINRA Rule 4530 due to the impending implementation of Regulation Best Interest (“Reg. BI”). Rule 4530 requires member firms to report, among other things, statistical and summary information regarding written customer complaints, as well as specified criminal actions, civil complaints and arbitration claims.

This article lists five best practices that employers can adopt to improve their compliance efforts and reduce the risk of a substantiated SEC whistleblower complaint.

FINRA, through its most recent Regulatory Notice 20-16 , shares certain common practices they have seen taken by member firms to enhance supervision in the remote work environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we previously discussed, FINRA issued guidance to member firms and their associated persons in April 2020 to remain “vigilant in their surveillance against cyber threats and take steps to reduce the risk of cyber events.”

Kestra Investment Services LLC (“Kestra”) was fined $125,000 by FINRA for sharing personal customer data with a third-party vendor.

Due to the economic impact of COVID-19, especially on smaller broker-dealers, FINRA will allow small firms more time to pay their Annual Assessment (comprised of the Gross Income Assessment and the Personal Assessment).

Because they are working from home and are not able to meet clients face-to-face due to COVID-19 restrictions, many registered representatives are communicating with clients via live audio or video conference meetings.