On Monday, December 5, 2016, FINRA announced yet another record fine against a broker-dealer for AML compliance failure. This action follows another just seven months ago in which FINRA fined a broker-dealer complex $17 million for AML compliance failure. There are numerous messages here which you can read about in my LinkedIn article that analyzes […]
AML compliance failures are starting to get the “zero tolerance” message from FINRA. It recently announced its largest fine ever against two firms for AML compliance failures, including the suspension of the AML compliance officer. Mitch Atkins, a former FINRA official breaks down this action in a LinkedIn article. In reality, these sanctions are not too […]
Last month in New York, I was invited to speak with a group of broker-dealer compliance staff at an event about email and social media compliance. More specifically, and to be technically correct, we call this “supervision of electronic communications” and you can read all about it in FINRA Rule 3110(b)(4). There, I had the opportunity […]
Compliance risks exist in your electronic communication. How will you effectively manage these risks? With the volume and velocity of information flowing through electronic communications channels, supervision has become a real challenge. Mitch Atkins presented at the Actiance Executive Briefing Series in New York on April 7, 2016 on how organizations can leverage their electronic […]
Mitch Atkins, founder and principal of FirstMark Regulatory Solutions, will present at the FINRA South Region Compliance Seminar in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 2 and 3, 2015. Atkins will present as a panelist on FINRA’s panel entitled, “Variable Annuities: Procedures, Practices and Findings.” The session is offered on both days, and the panelists will […]
Do you Update your Email Flagging Keywords? It is important to remember to periodically update your email flagging keywords if you use a monitoring system for electronic communications. Those systems, while powerful, are only as good as the dictionary of email flagging keywords used to call out a communication for review. Broker-dealers are required to […]
Check out the article written by FirstMark’s founder, Mitch Atkins, on LinkedIn summarizing the comments received in response to the FINRA Membership Application Rules Retrospective. This retrospective is a look back at the FINRA Membership Application Rules and further a request to the public for comment on what might be changed about the rules and […]
Mitchell C. Atkins, FirstMark’s founder and FINRA broker-dealer consultant will present on the fiduciary duty of agents and advisors at the 21st Annual Spring Life Settlement Conference in Boston on May 5, 2015. He will discuss the obligations of registered persons related to life settlement options when a variable policy is lapsing or is surrendered. Some […]
Mitch Atkins, founder of FirstMark Regulatory Solutions, is presenting at the Association for Certified Financial Crime Specialists (AFCFS) 2015 Financial Crime Conference on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Atkins will participate as a panelist on the Financial Crime Landscape for the Securities Industry panel and will discuss recent trends in chief compliance officer (CCO) and anti-money […]
January 2015 marks the one year anniversary of FirstMark Regulatory Solutions’ entry into regulatory compliance consulting. FirstMark offers specialized compliance consulting services to FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealers. Services offered to clients include: FINRA New Member Applications (NMA), FINRA Continuation of Membership Applications (CMA), anti-money laundering (AML) independent testing, supervisory controls testing, litigation support services, […]
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