Under current Sanctions Guidelines, the number of violations that the regulators can find when a firm does not trade report correctly is astronomic. Here, a small firm was found to have committed almost a half a million violations. While the amount of fines levied by FINRA in this case seems modest, under the Sanctions Guidelines, FINRA has the power to assess an amount based on each failure to report as a separate violation. Perhaps the Sanctions Guidelines should be revisited so…

The legislative proposal introduced by Senators Warren and Kennedy is both irrational and potentially destructive. As proposed, S.2499 would effectively require solvent, law-abiding broker-dealers to pay damages awarded against other broker-dealers who violated the law and then became insolvent.

Consider this:  

    Two firms are in direct competition with each other. Firm A devotes money to compliance, follows the law, and treats its…

It is disappointing that Senator Brown thinks it productive to attack the supposed "shortsighted obsession" of Wall Street. If he believes that the private sector is particularly cursed by an inability to think into the future, he should suggest a cure, rather than merely rehearse a cliché. Or is he suggesting that everything would be better if only elected officials made decisions as to capital allocation? That seems unlikely on its face, but if he believes it to be so, he should…

Senator Warren's comments on the bank merger process reflect a misunderstanding of the regulatory application process, and not just of the process in banking regulation. That is, it is completely common in any regulatory process (not just banking regulation) in which market participants seek regulatory approval for the regulators ultimately to approve all published applications.

A very high published approval rate is not because the regulators, in fact, approve all (or even…