The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market manipulation.
In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and derivatives trading process.
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is a law governing the secondary trading of securities in the United States of America. A landmark of wide-ranging legislation, the Act of '34 and related statutes form the basis of regulation of the financial markets and their participants in the United States. The 1934 Act also established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the agency primarily responsible for enforcement of United States federal securities law.
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) is a United States self-regulatory financial organization that writes investor protection rules and other rules regulating broker-dealers and banks in the municipal securities market. This including tax-exempt and taxable municipal bonds, municipal notes, and other securities issued by states, cities, and counties or their agencies to help finance public projects or for other public policy purposes.
The OTC (Over-The-Counter) Bulletin Board or OTCBB was a United States quotation medium operated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for its subscribing members. FINRA closed the OTCBB on November 8, 2021.
World Group Securities, Inc. (WGS), a member of the Dutch-owned AEGON Group, is the exclusive broker-dealer affiliate of World Financial Group (WFG).
Securities regulation in the United States is the field of U.S. law that covers transactions and other dealings with securities. The term is usually understood to include both federal and state-level regulation by governmental regulatory agencies, but sometimes may also encompass listing requirements of exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and rules of self-regulatory organizations like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
In the United States, the Series 7 exam, also known as the General Securities Representative Exam (GSRE), is a test for entry-level registered representatives, that demonstrates competency to buy or sell security products such as corporate securities, municipal securities, options, direct participation programs, investment company products and variable contracts. The Series 7 is administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an industry regulatory agency.
The general securities principal exam, commonly referred to as the Series 24 exam, is administered by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) which qualifies a registered individual to supervise or manage branch activities such as corporate securities, REITs, variable contracts, and venture capital; a general principal may also approve advertising and sales literature, including communications regarding municipal securities. The exam covers topics such as supervision of investment banking, trading, customer accounts, and the primary/secondary markets.
A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 popularized the term, which is closely associated with the term investment adviser. An investment adviser is defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an individual or a firm that is in the business of giving advice about securities. However, an RIA is the actual firm, while the employees of the firm are called Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs).
Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms are synonymous. Research analysts produce research reports and typically issue a recommendation: buy ("overweight"), hold, or sell ("underweight"); see target price and trade idea.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD) as well as to the member regulation, enforcement, and arbitration operations of the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. government agency that acts as the ultimate regulator of the U.S. securities industry, including FINRA, is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A registered representative, also called a general securities representative, a stockbroker, or an account executive, is an individual who is licensed to sell securities and has the legal power of an agent in the United States.
The National Market System (NMS) is a regulatory mechanism that governs the operations of securities trading in the United States. Its primary focus is ensuring transparency and full disclosure regarding stock price quotations and trade executions. It was initiated in 1975, when, in the Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, Congress directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to use its authority to facilitate the establishment of a national market system. The system has been updated periodically, for example with the Regulation NMS in 2005 which took into account technological innovations and other market changes.
Elisse B. Walter was the 30th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from December 14, 2012 – April 10, 2013. She was appointed Chair by President Barack Obama on November 26, 2012, and sworn in on December 14, 2012. She was originally appointed as one of five SEC Commissioners by President George W. Bush and sworn in on July 9, 2008. Under designation by President Obama, she later served as Acting Chair during January 2009. She served as a Commissioner of the SEC until August 9, 2013.
Selling away in the U.S. securities brokerage industry is the inappropriate practice of an investment professional who sells, or solicits the sale of, securities not held or offered by the brokerage firm with which he is associated (affiliated). An example of the term expressed in a sentence is, "The broker was selling investments away from the firm." Brokers marketing securities must have obtained the appropriate securities licenses for various types of investments. Brokers in the U.S. may be "associated" with one or more Brokerage firms and must obtain licenses by passing standardized Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) exams such as the Series 6 or Series 7 exam. See List of Securities Examinations for types of securities licenses in the U.S.
Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe keep assets, and regulators who monitor the markets' activities. Investors buy and sell through broker-dealers and have their assets retained by either their executing broker-dealer, a custodian bank or a prime broker. These transactions take place in the environment of equity and equity options exchanges, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or derivative exchanges, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For transactions involving stocks and bonds, transfer agents assure that the ownership in each transaction is properly assigned to and held on behalf of each investor.
Martin P. Russo is an American trial lawyer of Sicilian and Cuban heritage from New York. He handles complex business litigation in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and other matters pending in administrative and alternative dispute resolution forums. He has handled bet-the-company litigations, complicated commercial disputes, financial services litigation, regulatory defense, white collar defense, corporate compliance, and internal investigations for publicly held and private companies in the United States and abroad.
