FINRA Revises Its Sanction Guidelines

In April 2017, FINRA announced that it had revised its sanction guidelines for violations of its rules. The new revisions, among other things:

• contain a new factor requiring that the exercise of undue influence over a customer, such as an elderly investor, be considered when adjudicating violations;
• introduce three new sanction guidelines: "Systemic Supervisory Failures," "Short Interest Reporting," and "Borrowing From or Lending to Customers";
• create a new factor related to the mitigating effect of regulator or firm-imposed sanctions and corrective actions that have been taken; and
• amend a number of sections of the sanction guidelines to revise sanctions for more serious FINRA rule