You are your broker-dealer’s or registered investment adviser’s Chief Compliance Officer. You might even be your firm’s entire Compliance Department. It is a tremendous responsibility. The SEC, FINRA and the state regulators have placed significant demands on our industry.
You need to help your firm discharge its current obligations and implement the new ones. It makes you feel at times that you are trying to boil away the ocean.
Your regulator has just contacted your firm for whatever reason and seeks documents and additional information. You are concerned about what this means and what might happen next.
An angry client has just brought an arbitration claim against your firm. You need to defend it.
What do you do?
I have been there. In fact, I still am. I offer solutions to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, and their associates to help them meet their regulatory obligations. Not only do I offer these solutions, I also use them in my own practice. In other words, I eat my own cooking. Contact me if you or your firm:
- Have to defend a FINRA, SEC or state regulatory exam or investigation;
- Need to test or enhance your supervisory procedures or systems to respond to regulatory developments;
- Have any sort of regulatory reporting obligations, including to the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT);
- Are contemplating commencing, or currently defending, an arbitration claim before FINRA Dispute Resolution;
- Seek to expunge matters from your record on the Central Registration Depository (CRD);
- Need a Chief Compliance Officer (I have an active Series 24); and/or
- Are facing any other legal or compliance issue affecting broker-dealers, registered investment advisers and your associates.
My commentary on these topics and more concerning the financial services industry can be found on my blog. Additional information about me and the industry is available on my Resources page and bio page. Please contact me with any questions.