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

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