On February 4, 2013, the new communication rules described in this alert will take effect. FINRA has provided guidance on the new rules. This guidance provides that:
-educational material provided to other broker-dealers is considered “institutional communication,” not “internal communication”
-a firm’s one-year period of needing to file all public retail communication in 10 business days in advance now begins when the firm’s FINRA membership becomes active; free writing prospectuses may instead be filed within 10 business days of first use
-retail communications regarding “registered structured products” must be filed within 10 days of first use; examples of “registered structured products” include “exchange-traded notes that are not registered under the Investment Company Act but are registered under the Securities Act, registered reverse convertibles, registered structured notes, registered principal protection notes, and any other registered security that includes embedded derivative-like features”
-disclosure requirements for recommendations do not apply when discussing the past performance of a mutual fund
-a sales script used in a seminar is considered retail communication if the script is used with more than 25 retail investors in a 30-day period – this means that the firm must approve the script before use
-a firm’s name must be disclosed in scripted public appearances (both in the script and on any slide presentations or brochures used)
The guidance also addresses transitional issues for implementing the new rules.
This alert applies to the Series 6, Series 7, Series 24, Series 26, Series 62, Series 79, Series 82, and Series 99.