An irreverent Wall Street Blog
BrokeAndBroker.com Blog by Bill Singer WEEK IN REVIEW
April 28, 2017
GUEST BLOG: Are Decepticons Duplicitous ? By Stephen Kohn
In my humble opinion, many FINRA examiners seem to be aspiring proctologists. They come into our offices wearing gloves, fearing the expectation of finding all kinds of contagion hidden in secret places, waiting to be analyzed by pathologically inept "laboratories" designed to get rid of an increasing, annual percentage of our membership. READ
Not everything we cover at the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog is about Wall Street. After all, although many of our readers work on the Street, they still live in the same world as everyone else. As such, we also cover stories of more general interest. Sometimes we feature humorous and quirky stories involving an existential threat to all of humanity. For example, did y'all read the FBI's recent release of files about the radioactive Boy Scout who kept a small nuclear reactor in his home freezer?
In isolation, any number of acts may not seem to amount to all that big a deal when it comes to violations of in-house compliance policies or industry rules and regulations. A single example of a private securities transaction. An undisclosed civil judgment. A couple of measly tax liens. Just a few bricks -- not a wall. Then again, take a look at the wall and notice that it is, indeed, built by piling on just a few bricks and then a few more and a few more. Today's BrokeAndBroker.com Blog visits a FINRA work-site and we watch the regulators' bricklayers mix the mortar that seals the fate of one registered representative. READ
FINRA has a few thousand employees, millions of dollars in funding, and a mandate to protect the investing public and police the securities industry. Sometimes the excuse for a regulator coming up short is found in the organization being under-staffed and under-funded. Sometimes the explanation is that the inept are managing the incompetent. Sometimes,you get lots of excuses and explanations but nothing that quite amounts to a satisfactory answer. In a recent FINRA AWC regulatory settlement, BrokeAndBroker.com Blog publisher Bill Singer finds a number of inconsistencies. The AWC says on the one hand. BrokerCheck says on the other hand. Then there are facts that suggest yet another hand. All of which leaves us with that oddity of a three-handed creature. READ
BrokeandBroker.com Blog's Bill Singer at a loss for words? Is that even possible? Yes, dear readers, Bill has virtually nothing to add to today's featured FINRA Arbitration decision. Indeed, Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and our publisher is stunned into rare silence. Enjoy it while it lasts! READ