Category: Fines

According to FINRA’s Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, the firm conducted securities business on nine occasions between November 2020 and April 2023 while below the capital levels required under U.S. securities law. Net capital deficiencies ranged from around $1,000 to $33,000, FINRA said. During the same period, Madison Global Partners took part in firm…

According to FINRA, between September 2009 and July 2022 Jefferies inaccurately calculated its customer and proprietary accounts of broker-dealers (PAB) reserve formula.  The errors are said to have led to 136 customer reserve deficiencies and three PAB reserve deficiencies, at times amounting to shortfalls of more than $500 million. FINRA said the failures resulted in…

The penalty follows Revolut’s self-disclosure that it had failed to submit international funds transfer instructions within the timeframes required under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Act. The company has since paid the notice in full. AUSTRAC Chief Executive Brendan Thomas said Revolut co-operated with the regulator and took steps to remedy the…

The penalty follows an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which found SocGen breached market integrity rules by allowing two clients to place 33 suspicious orders between May 2023 and February 2024. ASIC said each order bore signs of an attempt to “mark the close”, where trades are placed just before market…

According to the SEC’s order, between August 2020 and December 2023, Vanguard incentivised its financial advisers to enrol and retain clients in PAS, without sufficiently informing clients of the potential conflict created by this compensation structure.  While Vanguard’s official brochure acknowledged that advisers could receive bonuses tied to client enrolments, other disclosure documents and marketing…

According to FINRA, between January 2018 and December 2021 the firm’s written supervisory procedures were not reasonably designed to ensure compliance with federal securities law requirements.  The regulator explained that under Rule 15c2-8(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, firms must provide customers expected to participate in an IPO with a preliminary prospectus at…

The case centred on two ASX announcements made by TerraCom in February and April 2020, along with an open letter published in the Australian Financial Review and The Australian in March 2020.  In these communications, the company claimed that allegations made by a whistleblower were false and that its employees had been independently cleared. TerraCom…

Between April 2020 and August 2023, USBI reportedly did not submit 42 SARs because it applied an incorrect monetary threshold when assessing suspicious transactions.  The firm used the $25,000 reporting threshold applicable to banks instead of the $5,000 threshold required for broker-dealers.  FINRA added that as a result, activity involving account intrusions, identity theft and…

The ban runs from August 16, 2025, to August 15, 2026.  Zhu, a substantial shareholder, director and former manager-in-charge (MIC) of Kylin, was found to have breached her duties between August 2018 and July 2021, when the company acted as investment manager and consultant to sub-funds of a Cayman-incorporated vehicle. At the time, Zhu was…

According to FINRA, between January 2020 and December 2023, Stifel released 16 quarterly reports under Rule 606(a) of Regulation NMS that misstated key information, including payments for order flow, profit-sharing arrangements, transaction fees and rebates.  In some cases, the firm is said to have incorrectly reported these amounts as zero, despite having received or paid…