By Jeffrey M. Haber What anti-money laundering compliance programs should financial firms have in place? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) recently announced that it had fined Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, a former unit of Credit Suisse AG, $16.5 million for anti-money laundering (“AML”), supervision, and other violations. The self-regulatory watchdog found that the firm’s monitoring program for detecting suspicious activity was deficient in two mate

By Jeffrey M. Haber What is the amount of fines assessed by FINRA this year? Thus far, 2016 has been a banner year for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). Buoyed in part by a handful of large penalties, the self-regulatory watchdog is on pace for a record year as fines could be up by 70 percent when all is said and done. In the first six months of this year, FINRA assessed $79.4 million in fines against member broker-dealers. For the similar period in 2015

By Jeffrey M. Haber On October 20, 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) announced that it had submitted proposed rule changes to the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for approval that are intended to help member firms detect and prevent the abuse and financial exploitation of senior and vulnerable adult customers. If approved, the proposed rules would allow member firms to temporarily halt the disbursement of funds or securities from their custom