While OFAC did not assess a monetary penalty, it did indicate that the failure of technology was a "critical shortcoming" of the financial institution's compliance program - and something that a "large, commercially sophisticated financial institution" probably should have detected. These comments signal the importance of regularly checking all technology systems (not just sanctions systems) for various kinds of failures, though whether the failure was one that could have been caught through…

Virtually all of the Regulation S-P violations involving broker-dealers have been in connection with a registered representative changing firms and improperly taking customer information.

While the report is focused on state-registered investment advisers, which tend to be significantly smaller than SEC-registered firms, the compliance guidance and reminders of potentially problematic issues should be of interest, including to CFTC-registered CTAs. Page 5 of the report sets out a list of bullet points of common regulatory issues. Throughout, the report highlights various types of regulatory tools published by NASAA.

The FINRA FAQ on mark-ups strongly suggests that firms should review their compliance procedures relating to PMP determinations and corrections. Firms should make sure that their processes are sufficiently flexible to account for the current market volatility and that they are sufficiently detailed as to any correction of a PMP determination.