FINRA provided an overview of securities-backed lines of credit ("SBLOCs"), a product increasingly offered by securities firms to investors. The investor alert explains: (i) what SBLOCs are; (ii) how they work; (iii) credit limits; (iv) related interest rates and repayments; and (v) weighing potential advantages and risks. The alert recommends investors ask the following questions before taking out an SBLOC: When I take out an SBLOC, what am I agreeing to? Who is the lender? Should I use my investments as collateral? What if the value of my portfolio decreases? Does my investment mix matter

FINRA released an investor education podcast advising investors on what they need to know about financial planners. In an investor education podcast, FINRA identified three things to consider in seeking out a financial planner: (i) who they are (their backgrounds); (ii) who regulates them; and (iii) what services they offer, including their areas of focus.

FINRA censured and fined a financial services firm (the "Firm") for failing to provide "complete and accurate trade data" in automated form when requested by the SEC and FINRA. Such trade data, commonly known as "blue sheets," provide information about securities transactions, including the security, trade date, price, share quantity, customer name, and whether the transaction was a buy, sale, or short sale. FINRA found that from January 2012 to September 2015, the Firm submitted to the SEC and FINRA inaccurate trade data as a result of problems with the Firm's automated systems. According to

The recently-enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 included amendments to the exemption from swaps mandatory clearing for hedging affiliates in the CEA and SEA. In particular, Section 705 modifies the exemption from mandatory clearing provided to so-called "treasury affiliates" in CEA Section 2(h)(7)(D) ("Mandatory Clearing Requirements for Swaps - Treatment of Affiliates"). The amendments modify the application of the exemption by: removing the requirement that the affiliate be acting as "agent" in the transaction; requiring that the commercial risk must have been actually transferred

The SEC found that a financial services firm failed to uncover its employee's illegal activities in a prearranged trading scheme. According to the SEC's investigation, a firm employee arranged the sale of mortgage-backed securities to another trader at predetermined prices and then bought back the positions at a small markup and placed them in other accounts. The employee also sold bonds at above-market prices to avoid incurring losses in certain accounts and then repurchased them at unfavorable prices in another fund without disclosing the favorable treatment toward the selling clients to the