The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is reminding broker-dealers of their obligations under Regulation Best Interest as they relate to complex products.
In a just-released Regulatory Notice, FINRA also seeks feedback from broker-dealers on how they're handling complex products as the regulator weighs changes to its rules.
Robert Cook, FINRA's CEO, said last October that FINRA was mulling an update to its rules around complex products.
The broker-dealer self-regulator is "looking closely at the offering of complex products by our member firms," Cook said during an event held by the New York Law School.
FINRA said in its notice that the availability of complex products and options "can potentially expand the investment opportunities for retail investors and, if properly understood, offer favorable investment outcomes (e.g., enhancing returns, limiting losses or improving diversification)."
However, "important regulatory concerns arise when investors trade complex products without understanding their unique characteristics and risks," FINRA said.
Reg BI Obligations, Potential Violations
FINRA explains in that notice that when adopting Reg BI, the SEC "emphasized the importance of understanding the terms, features and risks of complex products, such as inverse and leveraged ETPs, in order to establish a reasonable basis to recommend these products to retail customers."
The reasonable basis portion of Reg BI's Care Obligation, FINRA states, "requires the broker-dealer or associated person to use reasonable diligence, care, and skill to understand the nature of the recommended security or investment strategy involving a security, as well as the potential risks, rewards and costs of the recommended security or investment strategy."
The rule also requires "a reasonable basis to believe that the recommendation could be in the best interest of at least some retail customers based on that understanding," FINRA said.
