Summary of selected FINRA regulatory notices and disciplinary actions, January‐March 2009

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide excerpts of selected Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notices and Disciplinary Actions issued from January to March 2009 and a sample of disciplinary actions during that period. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides excerpts from FINRA Regulatory 09‐12, Auction Rate Securities; 09‐13, Threshold for Single Arbitrator Cases; 09‐14, Trading Ahead of Customer Limit Orders; 09‐17, Investigations and Formal Disciplinary Actions. Findings – The SEC has defined reporting requirements for settlements of customer disputes involving auction rate securities, raised the threshold for single arbitrator cases to $100,000, approved alternative means for calculating minimum price‐improvement obligations that firms must provide to trade ahead of customer limit orders, and provided guidance on its enforcement process to improve transparency into its regulatory framework. Originality/value – These are direct excerpts designed to provide a useful digest for the reader and an indication of regulatory trends. The FINRA staff is aware of this summary but has neither reviewed nor edited it. For further detail as well as other useful information, the reader should visit www.finra.org