FINRA Podcast: December 2014 Monthly Recap

FINRA released a podcast summarizing the latest notices, compliance resources and news from December 2014.

FINRA reminded members of their filing obligations for annual audit and FOCUS Form Custody and Supplemental FOCUS Reports, and of the reports' due dates throughout 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016. FINRA also reminded firms of their obligations to disclose the material risks to customers of extended-hours trading, as described in Regulatory Notice 14-54.

FINRA reminded members of an e-mail by Chairman and CEO Rick Ketchum, in which he reviewed rule-making proposals that were approved by the Board at a recent meeting. The Board also approved a discretionary rebate of $20 million to be allocated to all active member firms in good standing. Additionally, FINRA extended the comment period for market structure initiatives involving trade sequencing, clock synchronization, alternative trading system transparency, an order audit trading system, and alternative trading system reporting to February 20, 2015.

FINRA also announced various conferences, including the following:

• a joint conference with FINRA and SIFMA on cybersecurity on February 4, 2015;
• the Fixed Income Conference on March 10, 2015; and
• the FINRA 2015 Annual Conference on May 27-29, 2015.

See: Podcast; Transcription of Podcast. Related news: FINRA Reminds Firms of 2015 and First Quarter of 2016 Report Filing Due Dates (December 30, 2014); FINRA Announces Results of SFAB, NAC and District Committee Elections (December 5, 2014).