Effective October 7, 2010 the SEC approved FINRA’s updated know-your-customer and suitability obligations rules.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER
New FINRA Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) requires firms to use “reasonable diligence,” in regard to the opening and maintenance of every account, to know the “essential facts” concerning every customer.
The rule explains that “essential facts” are those:
- required to effectively service the customer’s account,
- act in accordance with any special handling instructions for the account,
- understand the authority of each person acting on behalf of the customer, and
- comply with applicable laws, regulations, and rules
The know-your-customer obligation arises at the beginning of the customer-broker relationship and does not depend on whether the broker has made a recommendation. The new rule does not specifically address orders, supervision or account opening—areas that are explicitly covered by other rules.
SUITABILITY
New FINRA Rule 2111 requires that a firm or associated person have a reasonable basis to believe that a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving a security or securities is suitable for the customer, based on the information obtained through the reasonable diligence of the member or associated person to ascertain the customer’s investment profile.
The rule further explains that a “customer’s investment profile” includes, but is not limited to:
- the customer’s age,
- the customer’s other investments,
- the customer’s financial situation and needs
- the customer’s tax status, investment objectives,
- the customer’s investment experience,
- the customer’s investment time horizon,
- the customer’s liquidity needs,
- the customer’s risk tolerance, and
- any other information the customer may disclose in connection with such recommendation.
The new rule continues to use a broker’s “recommendation” as the triggering event for application of the rule and continues to apply a flexible “facts and circumstances” approach to determining what communications constitute such a recommendation. The new rule also applies to recommended investment strategies, clarifies the types of information that brokers must attempt to obtain and analyze, and discusses the three main suitability obligations. Finally, the new rule modifies the institutional-investor exemption in a number of ways.
Recommendations
The determination of the existence of a recommendation has always been based on the facts and circumstances of the particular case. That remains true under the new rule. Several guiding principles are relevant to determining whether a particular communication could be viewed as a recommendation for purposes of the suitability rule.
For instance, a communication’s content, context and presentation are important aspects of the inquiry. The determination of whether a “recommendation” has been made, moreover, is an objective rather than subjective inquiry. An important factor in this regard is whether—given its content, context and manner of presentation—a particular communication from a firm or associated person to a customer reasonably would be viewed as a suggestion that the customer take action or refrain from taking action regarding a security or investment strategy. In addition, the more individually tailored the communication is to a particular customer or customers about a specific security or investment strategy, the more likely the communication will be viewed as a recommendation. Furthermore, a series of actions that may not constitute recommendations when viewed individually may amount to a recommendation when considered in the aggregate. It also makes no difference whether the communication was initiated by a person or a computer software program. These guiding principles, together with numerous litigated decisions and the facts and circumstances of any particular case, inform the determination of whether the communication is a recommendation for purposes of FINRA’s suitability rule.
Strategies
The new rule explicitly applies to recommended investment strategies involving a security or securities. The rule emphasizes that the term “strategy” should be interpreted broadly The rule is triggered when a firm or associated person recommends a security or strategy regardless of whether the recommendation results in a transaction. Among other things, the term “strategy” would capture a broker’s explicit recommendation to hold a security or securities. The rule recognizes that customers may rely on firms’ and associated persons’ investment expertise and knowledge, and it is thus appropriate to hold firms and associated persons responsible for the recommendations that they make to customers, regardless of whether those recommendations result in transactions or generate transaction-based compensation.
However, educational material is exempted from the new rule’s coverage - which the strategy language otherwise would cover—as long as such material does not include (standing alone or in combination with other communications) a recommendation of a particular security or securities.
Main Suitability Obligations
The new suitability rule lists in one place the three main suitability obligations: reasonable-basis, customer-specific and quantitative suitability.
Reasonable-basis suitability requires a broker to have a reasonable basis to believe, based on reasonable diligence, that the recommendation is suitable for at least some investors. In general, what constitutes reasonable diligence will vary depending on, among other things, the complexity of and risks associated with the security or investment strategy and the firm’s or associated person’s familiarity with the security or investment strategy. A firm’s or associated person’s reasonable diligence must provide the firm or associated person with an understanding of the potential risks and rewards associated with the recommended security or strategy.
Customer-specific suitability requires that a broker have a reasonable basis to believe that the recommendation is suitable for a particular customer based on that customer’s investment profile. As noted above, the new rule requires a broker to attempt to obtain and analyze a broad array of customer-specific factors.
Quantitative suitability requires a broker who has actual or de facto control over a customer account to have a reasonable basis for believing that a series of recommended transactions, even if suitable when viewed in isolation, are not excessive and unsuitable for the customer when taken together in light of the customer’s investment profile. Factors such as turnover rate, cost-equity ratio and use of in-and-out trading in a customer’s account may provide a basis for finding that the activity at issue was excessive.
The new rule makes clear that a broker must have a firm understanding of both the product and the customer. It also makes clear that the lack of such an understanding itself violates the suitability rule.
Institutional-Investor Exemption
FINRA Rule 2111(b) provides an exemption to customer-specific suitability for recommendations to institutional customers under certain circumstances. The new exemption harmonizes the definition of institutional customer in the suitability rule with the more common definition of “institutional account” in NASD Rule 3110(c)(4). Beyond the definitional requirements, the exemption’s main focus is whether the broker has a reasonable basis to believe the customer is capable of evaluating investment risks independently, both in general and with regard to particular transactions and investment strategies, and whether the institutional customer affirmatively acknowledges that it is exercising independent judgment.
In regard to an institutional investor, a firm that satisfies the conditions of the exemption fulfils its customer-specific obligation, but not its reasonable-basis and quantitative obligations under the suitability rule. FINRA believes that, even when institutional customers are involved, it is crucial that brokers understand the securities they recommend and that those securities are appropriate for at least some investors. FINRA also believes that it is important that a firm not recommend an unsuitable number of transactions in those circumstances where it has control over the account. FINRA emphasizes, however, that quantitative suitability generally would apply only with regard to that portion of an institutional customer’s portfolio that the firm controls and only with regard to the firm’s recommended transactions.
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Robert Kiggins, Esq. of McCarthy Fingar LLP, is author of the blog, and may be reached at (914) 385-1024 or rkiggins@mccarthyfingar.com.
Nothing is this blog is intended to or may be relied upon as specific legal advice. Securities and related laws are complex and competent counsel should be consulted. Views expressed by the author in this article are his own and not those of any other person.
