Cantor Fitzgerald & Co censured and fined for alleged NMS securities reporting failures

In its reports on the handling of customers’ orders the firm failed to disclose material aspects of a relationship with one of its execution venues and failed to provide the more detailed disclosures required under the amended Rule 606 for certain order types.

The firm’s supervisory system and procedures were not adequately designed to ensure compliance with Regulation NMS reporting obligations. Specifically the firm’s quarterly reports were not reviewed as required before being published.

Regulation NMS, Rule 606(a)
FINRA Rule 2010
FINRA Rule 3110

Goldman Sachs censured and fined for alleged LOPR reporting failures

As a result of issues with recognizing instances of common control or acting in concert in certain accounts, the firm failed to report or inaccurately reported a significant number of OTC options positions. The firm’s supervisory system which was intended to ensure compliance with LOPR obligations was inadequate. The automated system was too restrictive to be effective and the manual reviews were not conducted as a result of an oversight, itself the consequence of a transfer of reporting obligations between departments.

FINRA Rule 2010
FINRA Rule 3110

Instinet censured and fined for alleged violations of its CAT reporting obligations

The firm failed to maintain adequate technical specifications for its order data. This hindered the ability of the third-party vendor hired to act as the firm’s reporting agent from converting the firm’s data to a form that could be used for CAT reporting. Because the firm’s data could not be fully translated to a CAT-reportable format billions of order events were not reported in a timely fashion. Some of the late reporting was caused by a variety of other issues, including “the reporting agent’s insufficient capacity to process Instinet’s order event volume”.

The firm’s supervisory system was not adequately designed with reviews of CAT reporting conducted only once per quarter, which was deemed unreasonable given the volume of CAT events being reported (billions of events per quarter).

The firm must also retain an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of its systems and processes related to its CAT reporting obligations.

FINRA Rule 2010
FINRA Rule 3110

Former securities representative suspended and fined for allegedly improperly using firm funds

FINRA Rule 2010