Finra has unveiled a revamped proposal to require disclosure to clients of broker recruitment deals.
The proposal, released on Wednesday, is a vastly slimmed-down version of a controversial plan that was scrapped in June 2014.
Under the new plan, Finra would require only the delivery of a Finra-written communication to clients that encourages investors to ask about the conflicts created by the financial incentives their brokers received for making a move, whether their investments will transfer, and about costs and services at the new firm.
The prior plan would have required detailed disclosures of recruitment incentives totaling $100,000 or more and required reporting to Finra whenever a broker recruit was expected to increase earnings by a certain amount during his or her first year.
The updated proposal would apply for six months after a rep leaves a firm, versus the one-year timeframe for the prior plan.
Finra withdrew the earlier proposal in the face of industry opposition.
“Finra believes the proposal is an effective and efficient alternative to the initial proposal that would achieve the regulatory objective of informing decisions by retail customers … while reducing the direct costs [and] the operational challenges of the initial proposal,” Finra said in releasing the revamped plan.
Finra wants comment on the latest proposal, issued as Regulatory Notice 15-19, by July 13.