801-896-0951​
Call Now 801-896-0951
SITEQUEST TECHNOLOGIES
  • Home
  • Eagle Eye
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • Risk Based Reviews
    • Eagle Eye FAQs
    • EAGLE EYE LOGIN
  • SQWatcher
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • SQWATCHER LOGIN
  • Web Dynamcis
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • Spotlight Websites
    • WEB DYNAMICS LOGIN
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Eagle Eye
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • Risk Based Reviews
    • Eagle Eye FAQs
    • EAGLE EYE LOGIN
  • SQWatcher
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • SQWATCHER LOGIN
  • Web Dynamcis
    • OVERVIEW
    • Features
    • Spotlight Websites
    • WEB DYNAMICS LOGIN
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

BLOG

Learn more about what we do and stay up-to-date with industry regulations and trends

7/9/2019

High Risk Brokers: Still a Focus of FINRA

 
Picture
After attending the May 2019 Annual FINRA Conference it is still evident that High Risk Brokers are still a priority and an area of ongoing concern for FINRA. During this conference we attended an informative break-out session with a discussion panel focusing on heightened supervision and Regulatory Notice 18-15.

It was right before last year’s annual conference that FINRA released it Regulatory Notice 18-15 regarding Heightened Supervision. FINRA noted that there are times where heightened supervision of an advisor may be appropriate. This notice stated that “FINRA requires member firms to establish and maintain supervisory systems for each of their associated persons and to test and verify annually that they have established reasonable procedures, including procedures for heightened supervision of associated persons, where necessary.”

This year’s discussion panel noted that FINRA is still looking for:
  • Broker association with firms that have been previously disciplined by FINRA
  • Previous disciplinary action taken against the broker by FINRA
  • How many examinations have been failed by the broker?
  • Age of disclosures. How long ago has the broker been disciplined?
  • History of complaints and arbitrations
  • Number of broker reviews done by FINRA

FINRA is also stressing this year that you examine these issues and identify “high-risk” brokers during the hiring process.

FINRA's 2019 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter stated in regards to high risk brokers that, “we will continue to enhance our examination program to evaluate how firms address these risks in their hiring practices and supervision programs.”

Innovative regulatory technology is playing a more prominent role for supervisors in their efforts to become more efficient, effective and risk-based in their supervision methods.

​With our Eagle Eye application’s risk-based approach your workflow processes will get easier, faster, and more effective. With increased system intelligence, enhanced lexicon capabilities, system learning, and detailed evaluation of results content, Eagle Eye automatically discovers your riskiest advisors and focuses your attention to where it’s needed.

Our Eagle Eye’s innovative “Heighten Supervision Mode”. The flexibility of this application empowers you to monitor your advisors at a variety of levels. For those that push the envelope a heightened level of supervision may be required. Eagle Eye will dig deep and with “Eagle Eye” precision discover and notify you of your advisors’ online presence.

Eagle Eye allows you to customize your supervisory approach without worry, and without additional charges or fees. Contact us today for your personalized demo and we will show you how our “Heightened Supervision Mode” will benefit your firm.

Are you concerned that you might have unidentified “high-risk” brokers at your firm? Have you identified a “high-risk” broker, but are unsure what to do next? Are you documenting this whole process and what you find? Let us help you address any concerns you might have. Contact us today.
 
Source: FINRA.org 

3/4/2019

Eagle Eye Doubles the Number of Results Found in 2018

 
Picture
During 2018, Eagle Eye celebrated its 5th year as one of our premier applications. Our first ever Eagle Eye client still utilizes this product and loves the ease and convenience of this program. More and more clients are discovering Eagle Eye and adding it to their firm’s resources. 

Outside OBAs and unauthorized content from your representatives or advisors are a growing concern that will always be present. We have been paying close attention and analyzing these trends discovered by Eagle Eye.

During 2018 we implemented the new Risk-Based Reviews feature to our Eagle Eye application. With added system intelligence, enhanced lexicon capabilities, system learning, and detailed evaluation of results content, Eagle Eye automatically discovers your riskiest advisors and focuses your attention to where it’s needed. Learn more about this new feature.
​
Eagle Eye can assist you in discovering and managing risks, increase your reviewer productivity, while streamline compliance.
​​
We look forward to increased client interactions and helping with the challenges that a new year brings. Thank you for being apart of this great growth.

12/5/2018

More and More Advisors are Violating the “SEC’s Testimonial Rule”

 
Picture
Are Yours? Do You Even Know It is Happening?

One website that is growing in popularity for advisors is Yelp.com. The ability to list your business and have people leave reviews is very tempting for advisors to use in hopes of gaining new clients. Unfortunately the use of Yelp is in direct violation of the SEC’s “Testimonial Rule” under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged three advisers and a marketing firm for violating the testimonial rule by promoting their business on Yelp. These three advisors worked with a marketing company to solicit testimonials from clients asking them to post their reviews on the investment adviser's behalf to Yelp and other social media websites. Each of these advisors were fined $10,000. The marketing firm received cease-and-desist orders and were required to pay civil penalties of $35,000.

YouTube is another platform that is rising in usage by advisors resulting in violations and fines. An Illinois-based RIA, was fined $15,000 for creating a 31-minute-long YouTube video that featured testimonials from multiple clients. The video was published on their public website and YouTube.com, and was shown to guests at a party celebrating the firm's 50th anniversary. This YouTube video was also in direct violation with the SEC’s “Testimonial Rule”.

Are you actively monitoring Yelp and YouTube for these type of SEC infractions from your registered advisors?

It can be difficult even knowing where to start. Over 4.6 million businesses are using Yelp. With an ever increasing 163 million Yelp reviews how are you to know if your advisors are actively soliciting testimonials from their clients?

Adding to your monitoring struggle is YouTube. It is estimated that over 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! With over 1 billion daily users how are you to find videos uploaded to YouTube by your registered advisors if they don’t send you the direct links?

Eagle Eye is a solution. With Eagle Eye precision our application will help you quickly identify any social media accounts including Yelp and YouTube that your registered advisors own. Allowing your firm to take action and comply with the SEC’s requirements. Eagle Eye’s automated documentation and screenshots of your findings will help you respond to a regulator.

We’d love to show you more. Contact SiteQuest Technologies today to see how our application can aid in your supervision responsibilities, saving you time and lowering your risk.

Related Article: Trends when it comes to supervising the web.

Related Article: Known Compliance Gaps

Sources: SEC.gov | Investment News

10/16/2018

High-Risk Brokers: What Are You Doing About Them?

 
Picture
In January of this year FINRA release it “2018 Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter”. High-risk firms and rogue brokers were one of the top concerns cited by President and CEO, Robert Cook.

Then on April 30, 2018, FINRA released it Regulatory Notice 18-15 regarding Heightened Supervision. FINRA noted that there are times where heightened supervision of an advisor may be appropriate. This notice stated that “FINRA requires member firms to establish and maintain supervisory systems for each of their associated persons and to test and verify annually that they have established reasonable procedures, including procedures for heightened supervision of associated persons, where necessary.”

In May at FINRA’s Annual Conference there was a discussion regarding the criteria FINRA uses to identify high-risk activity. This discussion noted that FINRA is looking for:
  • Broker association with firms that have been previously disciplined by FINRA.
  • Previous disciplinary action taken against the broker by FINRA.
  • How many examinations have been failed by the broker?
  • Age of disclosures. How long ago has the broker been disciplined?
  • History of complaints and arbitrations.
  • Number of broker reviews done by FINRA.
 
Several times this year FINRA has stressed the importance of “heightened supervision for high-risk brokers”. This should be one of the top priorities for your firm.

Do you have WSPs addressing these issues?

Are they causing you additional time, work, documentation, strain, and monitoring for your supervision department?

Our Eagle Eye application has an innovative “Heighten Supervision Mode”. The flexibility of this application empowers you to monitor your advisors at a variety of levels. For those that push the envelope a heightened level of supervision may be required. Eagle Eye will dig deep and with “Eagle Eye” precision discover and notify you of your advisors’ online presence.

Eagle Eye allows you to customize your supervisory approach without worry, and without additional charges or fees. Contact us today for your personalized demo and we will show you how our “Heightened Supervision Mode” will benefit your firm.
 
Source: FINRA.org 

7/19/2018

$750,000 Fine Handed Down from A State Division of Securities

 
Picture
Recently the Division of Securities, Utah Department of Commerce fined two credit unions and a licensed broker-dealer for failing to supervise the advisors working within the credit unions. (read the full report)

These credit unions are not registered broker-dealers or investment advisors. They entered into a networking agreement with a third-party broker-dealer to provide securities brokerage services to their credit union customers through registered representatives. In this case, the parties involved were not closely monitoring the actions and communications of these advisors with regards to how the advisors and the credit unions branded these services. The “lines were being blurred” and it was not clearly disclosed that these advisors worked for the third-party investment service provider, and not for the credit unions.

The emails, marketing materials, communications in print and electronic were not being supervised and in the view of the regulator, causing confusion with customers being misled. As a result, the broker-dealers and the credit unions were fined $750,000.

FINRA and the SEC are not the only regulatory agencies requiring firms to monitor their advisors. Each state has their own division of securities regulators.

Have you entered into a third-party agreement with another company to provide security brokerage services to their clients? Do you have advisors that are working in the facilities of these partners?

The biggest question of all is, “Are you sufficiently monitoring your advisors and their online presence?”

The use of our Eagle Eye application would have identified where the broker dealers’ presence was online such as social media, blogs, online articles, Yelp, YouTube and more, allowing you to review each URL. Our SQWatcher application would have alerted you to any changes on their websites ensuring that your supervision department could review and approve wording changes before they go live on the web.

We’d love to tell you more. Contact SiteQuest Technologies today to see how our applications can aid in your supervision responsibilities, saving you time and lowering your risk.

Previous

    About James Cella

    James Cella is the President of a growing and innovative compliance technology provider called SiteQuest Technologies. James is a customer-centric individual and focuses on building and sustaining positive and lasting relationship with his clients and partners. James and his family are "super fans" of Utah Football and have attended nearly every home game since 2002. Go Utes!

    Archives

    July 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Eagle Eye
    FINRA
    SEC
    SQWatcher

    RSS Feed

Products

Eagle Eye
SQWatcher
Web Dynamics

Company

​About Us
​Contact
​Support
Privacy

Popular Posts

Known Compliance Gaps
Are You Finding Everything That You Need To Monitor?
High-Risk Brokers: What Are You Doing About Them?
​
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.