The Securities and Exchange Commission is requesting comments from the public on two proposals from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. First, FINRA proposed to amend FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) to (i) exclude from the communications filing requirements any research reports produced by a broker dealer that concern only securities listed on a national securities exchange (other than research reports that must be filed pursuant to Section 24(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940) and (ii) clarify that free writing prospectuses that are exempt from having to be filed with the SEC are not subject to Rule 2210 filing or content standards. The comment period relating to the amendments to Rule 2210 expires on April 21. Second, FINRA proposed to adopt FINRA Rule 2243 (Disclosure and Reporting Obligations Related to Recruitment Practices). This rule would establish certain disclosure and reporting obligations that a FINRA member would be required to comply with when a recruited registered representative is contacting his former customers. Such disclosure is aimed at providing former customers of a recruited registered representative with a more complete picture of the factors involved in a decision to transfer assets to a recruiting firm, including special recruitment compensation that has been paid to such customer’s registered representative. The comment period relating to the adoption of Rule 2243 expires on April 18.  

More information relating to the proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 2210 can be found here, or as reported in the Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest edition of March 14, 2014. 

More information relating to proposed FINRA Rule 2243 can be found here.