Written by Don Lee FINRA announced today that it has fined Raymond James & Associates $17 Million for failures related to their Anti Money Laundering Programs as well as a personal fine for the prior AMLCO of $25,000 and 3 months suspension. The $17 Million fine was split $8 Million for Raymond James and Associates and $9 Million for Raymond James...
Read MoreFINRA’s 2016 Examination Priorities and Technology
Written by Don Lee FINRA has published its Annual Examination Priorities letter for 2016. This is an annual letter for all FINRA member firms to help them prepare for upcoming examinations and helps others update their compliance programs. This year, FINRA has devoted an entire section to Technology which includes Cybersecurity, Technology Management and...
Read MoreAre you effectively monitoring your trade desk?
Written by Don Lee Today Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $8.8 Million to settle charges for prearranged trading or “parking” that favored certain advisory client’s accounts. This was done with SG Americas the US subsidiary of the French conglomerate Societe Generale who was also fined $1 Million and the broker/ trader barred for 3 years...
Read MoreBig Data, Broker Dealers and Regulators
Written by Don Lee In the recent Technology Tools for Today conference hosted by Investment News on November 2nd in Florida, Big Data was once again a topic among the financial community. The general consensus among the broker dealers present was “the additional uses of Big Data is likely to spur more attention from government and industry...
Read MoreKYC Red Flag Automation
Written by Don Lee Fidelity Investments was fined $500,000 by FINRA and ordered to pay $530,000 in restitution to clients for not catching an impostor. This impostor Lisa Lewis who was previously fired from another firm, convinced her former clients that she was with Fidelity and to open accounts jointly with her. Fidelity was fined for not having caught...
Read MoreHow much does your firm spend on Compliance … is it enough?
Written by Don Lee Is your firm spending enough on compliance? That has been one of the main questions over the last few years. Most firms compliance expenditure is primarily on their Chief Compliance Officer because it is a regulatory requirement, but is that enough? Its no secret that the revenues in the financial world have declined so much so that the...
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