FINRA

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority adds Morgan Stanley to the growing list of firms charged with mark-up and mark-down failures on municipal securities transactions.

The amendments to MSRB rule A-12 on registration would cause bank dealers to disclose associated persons, the same requirements that currently apply to non-bank dealers.

Riedl First Securities Company of Kansas has been fined $15,000 by FINRA for charging unfair prices, violating MSRB Rule G-30 on fair pricing and MSRB Rule G-27 on supervision.

The Jeffrey Matthews Financial Group has been charged $110,000 for charging unfair prices on 86 municipal bond transactions a week after being dinged for Reg BI violations.

Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott has been fined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for reporting inaccurate times of trade on 391 municipal securities transactions.

The Jeffrey Matthews Financial Group has been fined by FINRA for failing to achieve compliance with Regulation Best Interest.

Birmingham, Alabama-based FNBB Capital Markets has been fined by the regulator for failing to include certain mark-ups and mark-downs on dealer confirmations sent to retail customers.

The SEC, MSRB and FINRA will gather in Denver Nov. 20-21 to discuss compliance for MAs and broker-dealers, examination priorities, and more.

The firm violated MSRB Rules G-15 on confirmation, G-8 on books and records and G-27 on supervision, FINRA found.

Christopher Perillo agreed to settle charges that he improperly had access to study materials during an examination.

According to FINRA, the mispricing resulted in customer harm amounting to $44,927.83, on top of the $90,000 fine.

According to FINRA, the banking giant failed to close out 239 inter-dealer transactions in a timely manner as well as failing to take possession of 247 short positions.

The veteran-owned Academy Securities failed to file Form G-37 reports in a timely manner, and failed to disclose another 60 municipal underwritings where the firm acted in a managerial capacity.

The regulator has charged a former chief compliance officer $15,000 and a firm $100,000 in twp separate enforcement actions.

The firm settled charges with FINRA over failing to include the Non-Transaction Based Compensation indicator for 91,059 reports of municipal securities transactions over a five year period.

Without admitting or denying the findings, David Elgart of Sequoia Investments has agreed to a $20,000 fine and an 18-month suspension from association with any FINRA member firm for acting as an unregistered dealer.

Knoxville, Tennessee-based Home Financial Services failed to disclose execution time, mark ups and mark downs to customers on municipal securities transactions, FINRA said.

New York-based Odeon Capital failed to report approximately 225 municipal securities transactions to RTRS over a two and a half year period.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will meet Oct. 25-26 to hold its first meeting of FY 2024.

Volatility in fixed income prices, which has risen recently, should not be mistaken for a systemic flaw in market structure or be used as a "strawman" to fix the plumbing and functioning of these markets.