FINRA's Board of Governors decided to move forward with proposed changes to the industry-funded regulatory group's "Communications with the Public' rules at its April 16 meeting.
The Board authorized FINRA to publish a Regulatory Notice in the coming months seeking comments on proposed amendments to:
Rules 2210 (Communications with the Public) and 2214 (Requirements for the Use of Investment Analysis Tools) to revise the filing requirements pertaining to retail communications; and- Rule 2213 (Requirements for the Use of Bond Mutual Fund Volatility Ratings) to refine the scope of the disclosures required.
The amendments would narrow the new member firm filing window and would simplify filing requirements related to registered investment companies or families of investment companies, investment analysis tools, previously filed templates and bond fund volatility ratings requirements.
“The proposed changes to FINRA's Communications With the Public Rules will help ensure that these rules are meeting their intended investor-protection objectives by reasonably efficient means,” said FINRA Chairman and CEO Richard Ketchum in a statement.
The proposed changes follow a “retrospective rule review” that FINRA launched in April 2014 designed to assess their effectiveness and efficiency. They represent the first changes made to a FINRA rule under the retrospective rule review program.
At its April meeting, the Board of Directors also FINRA also announced that it is proposing to tailor its Trading Activity Fee to the business activities of proprietary trading firms with no customers. The Board also addressed FINRA’s mark-up/mark-down rule application to U.S. Treasury securities and the municipal advisor exam fee. FINRA Chairman and CEO Rick Ketchum, joined by lead governor Jack Brennan, reviews the Communication with the Public rulemaking and other issues discussed at the meeting in a video posted on the FINRA website.
