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 the new case. The bottom line here is to remember that the days of a slap on the wrist for a firm with a serious AML compliance failure are over. FINRA has demonstrated that it will not hesitate to slap a broker-dealer with a significant sanction, and even to name individual AML compliance officers if violations are serious. There are parallels between this case and FINRA’s May 2016 action against a Florida BD complex. Read my summary of that case here.

The case involved several significant areas of compliance breakdowns. The firm utilized and automated surveillance system, but according to the FINRA settlement document, the data feeding into the system was inaccurate and/or missing information critical to its proper functioning. FINRA also found that the system did not utilize scenarios to detect specific types of activity that it believed the firm systems should have covered.

Another AML compliance failure was that there were deficiencies in the manner in which the firm determined ownership and saleability of microcap securities. FINRA noted that the firm was involved in the liquidation of over 3.7 billion shares of microcap issuers during its review period and earned $10.4 million in commissions from same. Because the system for determining whether the shares could be properly liquidated was inadequate, FINRA found that the firm violated NASD Rule 3010, FINRA Rule 3110, and FINRA Rule 2010.

The AML compliance failure also involved inadequate procedures covering suspicious activity reporting, and failure to conduct adequate due diligence on foreign financial institutions that were also firm affiliates.