5 Tips for Avoiding Broker-Dealer Compliance Exposure

Navigating the current landscape of regulatory compliance is not easy. For broker-dealers, neither is managing the required annual report filings. But having insight about common compliance exposures and how to avoid them can help ensure your business is protected from costly mistakes.

In “How to Avoid Compliance Exposures: Five Tips You Need to Know,” a whitepaper published with Patrina Corporation, Katz, Sapper & Miller’s Financial Services Group outlines the most common regulatory compliance issues encountered by broker-dealers and provides actionable takeaways about how to prevent them.

For example, did you know that missing or improperly prepared expense-sharing agreements are one of the biggest reasons for compliance violations in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inspection? The best way to avoid committing this violation is to carefully examine all transactions with related parties, making sure that each agreement documents the following:

• which party is obligated to pay each expense
• whether the broker-dealer has any obligation to reimburse or compensate any party for paying the expense
• and the basis and methodology for allocating expenses

Stated simply, the best course of action is to put everything in writing.

Want to learn more about common regulatory compliance exposures? Download the whitepaper here.