FINRA has filed a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 2267 (Investor Education and Protection) to require that members include a prominent description of FINRA BrokerCheck and a link to the member’s specific BrokerCheck page on their websites, social media pages and any comparable Internet media. The proposed requirement would also apply to the work-related websites and social media pages of associated persons. The proposal is intended to increase awareness and use of BrokerCheck. View Notice in full here (links externally to FINRA website).

The CFTC’s exemptive order providing time-limited relief from certain cross-border applications of the swap provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act and CFTC regulations has been published in the Federal Register. Under the exemptive order, a non-U.S. person that registers with the Commission as a swap dealer (“SD”) or major swap participant (“MSP”) may delay compliance with certain entity-level requirements adopted under the Dodd-Frank Act, and non-U.S. SDs and MSPs and foreign branches of U.S. SDs and MSPs may delay compliance with certain transaction-level requirements adopted under

The U.S. Treasury has updated the Model 1A (Reciprocal) and Model 1B (Nonreciprocal) IGAs to conform with signed IGAs with various countries, as well as with the Model 2 IGA. Model 1 IGAs provide for foreign financial institutions resident in an IGA country to provide information about accounts held or owned directly or indirectly by U.S. persons or entities to the local government which will automatically forward such information to the U.S. The revised Models include a “most favored nation” clause, as well as a few tweaks in defining insurance companies subject to FATCA. They also clarify

FINRA is filing with the SEC a proposed rule change to update cross-references and make other non-substantive changes within certain FINRA rules and By-Laws, primarily as the result of approval of new consolidated FINRA rules. Click here to view text of the proposed rule change (links externally to FINRA website).

FINRA seeks comment on a proposed rule that would require specific disclosure by the recruiting member firm of the financial incentives that a representative receives as part of his or her relationship with the new firm. The recruiting member firm would be required to provide the disclosure before a former retail customer of the representative makes a final determination to transfer an account to the new firm. Cross-Reference(s): FINRA Rule 4512 [Customer Account Information]. View Notice in full here (links externally to FINRA website).