The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority approved a series of measures Thursday aimed at enhancing financial fraud protections focusing on seniors.
Under the new rules, broker/dealers would be protected from Finra penalties if they temporarily withheld disbursement of funds or securities because they suspected the transactions were aimed at exploiting account holders 65 or over or exploiting adults 18 to 65 who were unable to protect their financial interests because of mental and physical disabilities.
A handful of states have given all financial professionals the right to temporarily stop suspected transactions without fear of lawsuits from the account holders and their guardians.
Finra is also beginning to require firms to make reasonable efforts to obtain the name and contact information for a trusted contact person upon opening a customer's account no matter what the age of the account holder.
The text of the new rules was unavailable.