FINRA Updates COVID-19 FAQs
Friday, May 29, 2020

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has updated its FAQs regarding coronavirus-related regulatory relief to address:

  • situations in which a member firm is unable, as required by FINRA Rule 3110(e), to verify some of the information in an initial or transfer Form U4 due to the COVID-19 outbreak;
  • the extension of expiring qualification examination windows until June 30, 2020, including for individuals who were designated to function as Operations Professionals under Rule 1220(b)(3)(B) or as principals under Rule 1210.04, in either case, prior to February 2, 2020 and who, under Rule 1220(b)(3)(B) or Rule 1210.04, respectively, otherwise would have had 120 days to pass the appropriate qualification examination;
  • the extension of deadlines for Rule 3120 reports until June 30, 2020 for member firms with reports that would otherwise be due between March 1 and June 1, 2020;
  • the extension of deadlines for Rule 3130 certifications until June 30, 2020 for member firms with certifications that would otherwise be due between March 1 and June 1, 2020 (and CCO meetings, as required as a condition for those certifications, can be conducted virtually); and
  • the extension, until June 30, 2020, of the currently-available temporary exemption from fingerprinting requirements, provided that certain notification requirements are met (see the full order here).

Note that FINRA also has emphasized that member firms must document their reliance on any temporary relief provided by FINRA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FINRA FAQs are available here.

 

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