Colliers Securities has agreed to pay $49,500 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations it violated municipal securities rules, including failing to use a required indicator when reporting new issue municipal securities transactions.
The $49,500 fine was imposed as part of a broader disciplinary action that saw Colliers fined a total of $55,000 by FINRA, which found that the Minneapolis-based firm also violated certain FINRA rules, a settlement document accepted by FINRA on June 16 showed. Colliers was also censured.
Colliers, which provides municipal advisory, municipal underwriting, investment advisory and brokerage services, accepted and consented to FINRA's findings without admitting or denying them.
FINRA found that between September 2020 and December 2023, Colliers violated Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-14 by failing to use the required special condition indicator for transactions in new issue municipal securities that Colliers reported to the MSRB's Real-time Transaction Reporting System.
During that time period, the firm "participated in municipal securities offerings as the sole underwriter, syndicate manager, syndicate member, selling group member, or distribution participant and did not append the required special condition indicator when reporting approximately 5,400 List Offering Price and Takedown Transactions," according to the settlement document.
"Therefore, Colliers violated MSRB Rule G-14," the document said.
Colliers also violated MSRB Rule G-15, FINRA found. Between July 2023 and December 2023, the firm issued about 50 confirmations for municipal securities transactions to retail customers that either didn't include or disclosed inaccurately the mark-up or mark-down information MSRB Rule G-15 requires, the document said. Similarly, the firm during the same period issued about 50 confirmations for corporate debt securities transactions that either didn't include or disclosed inaccurately the mark-up or mark-down information required under a FINRA rule.
Those failures "stemmed from an error in the firm's order management system," the settlement document said.
"By May 2023, Colliers was aware from FINRA of the disclosure failures stemming from the firm's order management system error," the document said. "However, the firm did not remediate the error until January 2024."
In addition, FINRA found that from September 2020 through April 2025, Colliers violated MSRB Rule G-27 by failing to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable disclosure and reporting requirements in MSRB Rules G-14 and G-15, the document said.
Asked for comment, Thomas Steichen, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Colliers, pointed to a "Corrective Action Statement" submitted by Colliers.
When FINRA alerted Colliers that the firm had failed to use the required special condition indicator for transactions in new issue muni securities that the firm reported to the MSRB's RTRS, Colliers "immediately took corrective action," the statement said.
"The respondent was able to change its processes to add a code so that the special condition indicator is properly reflected on transactions," Colliers' statement said.
Upon learning from FINRA that the firm may have violated MSRB Rule G-15 by failing to disclose, or to accurately disclose, required mark-up and mark-down information, "the head of the respondent's municipal trading desk reached out to the respondent's OMS technology provider as well as its clearing broker," the statement said, adding that both made adjustments.
"As a result of these changes, the mark-up and mark-down information is now accurately reflected on all retail confirmations," Colliers' statement said.
The firm has also revised its written supervisory procedures to ensure compliance with MSRB Rules G-14, G-27 and G-15, the statement said.
