DD Support Board and Research Team

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OTCM Newsletter out today:

Reminder: New FINRA ORF Platform
The migration date for firms to begin reporting OTC equity security trades and trades in restricted equity securities effected pursuant to Securities Act Rule 144A to the new OTC Reporting Facility (ORF) technology platform is September 15, 2014. Additional information can be found here. FINRA has also published a new FINRA OTC Reporting Facility (ORF) Migration Website. The SEC has approved amendments to the Equity Trade Reporting and OATS Rules that will also be effective on September 15, 2014. Broker-dealers that utilize a service bureau to report trades on their behalf are reminded that they must complete the FINRA Transparency Services Participation Agreement, FINRA Transparency Services Uniform Service Bureau/Executing Broker Agreement, and for those firms that have a service bureau reporting via a FIX connection the FINRA Services Port Request Form.

Require New Certification upon Filing a Form 211
FINRA has amended FINRA Rule 6432 (Compliance with the Information Requirements of SEC Rule 15c2-11) to require members to certify that they have not accepted any payment or other consideration for market making from issuers and related persons. The new Form 211 including the certification requirement may be found here.

New Requirements Require Alternative Trading Systems to Report Weekly Volume Information
Effective May 12, 2014, FINRA Rule 4552 requires Alternative Trading Systems (ATS) to (i) report to FINRA weekly volume information and number of securities transactions within the ATS by security and (ii) acquire and use a single, unique market participant identifier (MPID) when reporting information to FINRA. OTC Link® ATS provides reporting under this rule. The full notice can be found here. ATS Transparency Data can be found here.

Form 211 Information Repository
FINRA is soliciting comment on a proposal to make publicly available through FINRA’s website a repository of Form 211 information. FINRA’s Regulatory Notice may be found here.