RegEd Announces COVID-19 Resource Center

The site will support industry firms’ ability to manage the influx of new regulatory activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. RegEd, the leading provider of compliance technology solutions to the financial services industry, today announced that it has established the RegEd COVID-19 Resource Center, which aggregates regulatory activity impacting the financial services industry, related to the scope of regulations that RegEd products and services cover. “At RegEd, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our clients, employees, and our community. We’re committed to providing the support and resources to navigate this challenging time and support them in […]

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Leverage Pre-Audit Questionnaires to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Risk of Non-Compliance

The introduction of RegEd’s Pre-audit questionnaire (PAQ) functionality for Audit Management has enabled compliance and audit professionals to ensure that all pertinent data collected via questionnaires is automatically populated, reducing the need for manual transfer and significantly improving audit cycle time, while reducing the risk of input error. With PAQ’s, auditors and audit schedulers can complete their audit cycle workflows from within a unified tool – schedule audits, designate auditees, assign pre-audit questionnaires, or make changes to distribution recipients from within the solution, for example. With pre-audit questionnaires, compliance programs are able to benefit from: Reduced travel requirements, amount of […]

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Advertising Review: Leverage Next Gen Annotation Tools to Streamline the Review Process

RegEd is excited to announce expanded support for annotations within the industry-leading Enterprise Advertising Review solution.  Reviewers and submitters can now annotate materials using their browser of choice (Internet Explorer 11, Chrome v75+, Firefox v62+, Edge v44+) to allow more flexibility according to their preferences.  Additionally, users may now optionally ‘lock’ annotation comments such that only the individual that submitted the comment will be permitted to delete it, regardless of when created in the review process.  The enhanced annotation tool allows reviewers to easily provide specific feedback on review items by adding comments, highlighting and leveraging various markup tools. Subsequently, […]

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CE Council Fall 2019 Firm Element Advisory Topics

Every year, RegEd reviews the latest guidance on CE Council Firm Element topics.  Several times a year, the CE Council, established by FINRA to oversee the continuing education rules, writes the regulatory element exams and issues guidance on what they consider appropriate FE training topics.   Following are some highlights of new or updated topics as they appear in the recent Fall Advisory. Alternative Investments Digital Assets: Updated for Reg. Notice 19-24: Encourages firms to keep FINRA abreast of their activities related to digital assets. Cryptocurrencies: An alert to warn investors to be cautious when considering shares of companies that tout […]

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Observations From FINRA’s January 2020 Disciplinary Actions Report

Outside business activities and private securities transactions were a focus of FINRA’s January 2020 Disciplinary Actions Report with at least nine (9) cases being cited within the report.  Several registered persons were sanctioned for failure to notify and obtain prior written approval from their member firm before engaging in an outside business activity or private securities transactions.   Those who failed to cooperate with FINRA’s investigation by refusing to provide on-the-record testimony have been barred from the industry.  For those who did cooperate in the FINRA investigation, all but one received fines.  Fines ranged from $10,000 to $30,000.  (A fine was […]

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BREAKING: NAIC Adopts a Best-Interest Standard for Annuity Sales

February 13, 2020—This afternoon, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) voted to recommend that the states amend their annuity sales regulations to require insurance agents to “act in the best interest of the consumer when making a recommendation of an annuity.” The action came in the form of an amendment to the NAIC’s 2010 Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation, which was adopted by 45 states and the District of Colombia in the wake of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The new best-interest standard requires insurance agents to exercise a greater degree of care […]

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Form CRS: An Overview of the SEC-Mandated Customer Relationship Summary Due June 30, 2020

About Form CRS In June 2019, the SEC adopted requirements (SEC Release 34-86032) for registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, and dual-registrants that do business with retail investors to file Form CRS (customer relationship summary). Form CRS is intended to inform retail investors about: The types of client/customer relationships and services the firm offers; Fees, costs, conflicts of interest, and required standard of conduct associated with those relationships and services; Whether the firm and its financial professionals currently have reportable legal or disciplinary history; How to obtain additional information about the firm. Form CRS applies to registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, and dual […]

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SEC and FINRA Exam Priorities to Include Firms’ AML Compliance Programs, Including Policies and Procedures

SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) has issued its examination priorities for 2020. According to the document, OCIE will assess the adequacy of firms’ AML compliance programs, including relevant policies and procedures. AML Compliance was also cited by FINRA as an area of focus in its recent 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter. “The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions, including broker-dealers and investment companies, to establish anti-money laundering (AML) programs. These programs must, among other things, include policies and procedures reasonably designed to identify and verify the identity of customers and beneficial owners of legal entity customers…Given the importance […]

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RegEd Leaders Elected to Positions at the SILA Foundation and SILA Education and Training Subgroup (SETS)

RegEd, the leading provider of compliance technology solutions to the financial services industry, today announced that members of its Regulatory Affairs Group have been elected to serve in positions at the SILA Foundation and SILA Education and Training Subgroup (SETS). Susan Boles, RegEd Senior Regulatory Compliance Analyst, has been elected to the SILA Foundation Board of Trustees as the new Scholarships & Grants Trustee Member. As the new Scholarships & Grants Trustee Member, Susan will oversee all of the scholarship programs and grants that SILA issues. Brandi Brown, RegEd Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, is now Co-Chair of the […]

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FINRA Priorities Letter Highlights Customer Communications as the Subject of Heightened Focus for 2020

FINRA’s 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter serves to document areas of emphasis for the coming year, which firms may consider for opportunities to improve their compliance and supervisory programs. Among the highlights in the 2020 letter is an emphasis on firms’ compliance with obligations relating to FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public), including their marketing, advertising and sales materials. “FINRA will review how firms review, approve, supervise and distribute retail communications regarding private placement securities via online distribution platforms, as well as traditional channels.”– FINRA 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter Learn how leading firms partner with RegEd […]

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