FINRA News

The FINRA Board of Governors elected John Brennan as its new chairman last week. Brennan, an ex-chief executive and currently chairman emeritus and senior adviser at Vanguard Group, will start his new role on August 15. Robert W. Cook, an ex-division director at the SEC, will start as chief executive of FINRA around the same time. The moves come as the result of Rich G. Ketchum retiring this summer as chairman and chief executive of the regulatory authority. At the FINRA annual conference in May, Brennan was questioned by investor advocates about whether FINRA can effectively police brokers. He called industry oversight “fabulous.” “The idea that self-regulation doesn't work is specious in my view,” said John Brennan. “I know we've made progress in terms of investor protection, market integrity because of the engagement of the industry.” He also responded to critics who claim that brokers do not have enough say in the organization's decisions, stating "Members have a loud voice." [...]

Last week, former Merrill Lynch broker Kenneth Daley submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he accepted a permanent bar from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public. FINRA found that he had been mishandling client funds. On June 16, 2016, Merrill Lynch filed a Uniform Termination Notices for Securities Industry Registration stating that his registrations had been terminated as of that date. Merrill Lynch also disclosed that at the time of his termination Daley was under internal review "for improperly receiving money from a client via checks written from an outside account." From 2007 to 2012, Daley was the broker of record for a husband and wife. After the husband died in late 2012, the widow became the sole point of contact on the account held at Merrill Lynch with Daley. The widow, an unsophisticated investor who had not held a job in nearly twenty years, also opened [...]