Filing Requirements and Review Procedures
Within 10 business days of their first use, retail communications must be filed with FINRA’s Advertising Regulation Department under the following circumstances:
- • Their subject relates in any way to registered investment companies. An investment company is one that pools investors’ money (into a mutual fund, a closed-end fund, a variable annuity, or a face-amount certificate, for example) and trades that money on their behalf.
- • They involve direct participation programs.
- • They concern collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs).
- • They concern derivatives.
- • They concern an investment analysis tool.
- • If a draft version or “story board” of a television or video retail communication pursuant to a filing requirement has been filed, then the member also must file the final filmed version within 10 business days of first use or broadcast.
- • Free writing prospectuses have been filed with the SEC.
Some retail communications demand more stringent oversight, requiring that they be filed 10 business days prior to their first application and withheld from publication until receiving FINRA approval. These are:
- • Retail communications involving bond mutual funds that incorporate volatility ratings
- • Investment company retail communications that include performance ratings or rankings with other investment companies, if the communication is not generally published or is the creation of the investment company, its underwriter, or an affiliate
- • Retail communications concerning security futures
All filings to FINRA must include the actual or anticipated date of first use, the name and title of the principal who approved the retail communication, and the date that the approval was given.
In addition, new member firms, those that have been registered with FINRA for less than one year, must file any of their published retail communications at lea