FINRA is asking terminated Wells Fargo employees to come forward if they believe they were fired for blowing the whistle on the bank’s practice of opening phony customer accounts and exposing the bank’s aggressive sales practices. Of the approximately 5,300 employees terminated by Wells Fargo for engaging in improper sales practices, FINRA has found more… Continue Reading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission joins the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Housing Finance Agency in endorsing Dodd-Frank requirements aimed at limiting excessive risk-taking behavior.  The joint-agency proposal would limit incentive-based compensation for top executives at financial firms to discourage inappropriate risks that could… Continue Reading

In long awaited Dodd-Frank requirements aimed at limiting excessive risk-taking behavior, U.S. Financial Regulators released proposed restrictions on incentive-based compensation for top executives at financial firms. The proposal introduces a tiered system with varying restrictions based on the size of the assets of the financial firm. Firms with more than $250 billion in assets will… Continue Reading

Yesterday the Prudential Regulatory Authority (“PRA”), the regulatory and supervisory arm of the Bank of England, issued a press release proposing new rules that would call for employers providing “buy-outs” to bankers for compensation forfeited by their old employers to include clawback provisions in employment contracts, which allowed for compensation to be clawed back if… Continue Reading

FINRA issued its 13-page 2016 Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter yesterday. [Link to the FINRA letter] Here are a few interesting takeaway blurbs from the letter worth noting: “While firms may have their own definition of ‘firm culture,’ we use it here to refer to the set of explicit and implicit norms, practices, and expected… Continue Reading

Here is an interesting blurb from the Report: “The task force felt that it was important to take up the issue of mandatory arbitration. The mandatory nature of SRO securities arbitration is a defining characteristic of the process that engenders controversy about its fairness. Despite considerable discussion, however, the task force was not able to… Continue Reading