Communications with the Public: Categories, Approval, and Filing

What this video covers

• How FINRA classifies any written or electronic communication into retail communication, correspondence, or institutional communication based on the 25-retail-investor threshold within a rolling 30-day window
• The forwarding trap: why a firm cannot treat a message as institutional communication if it has reason to believe the content will reach retail investors
• The core content standards that apply to all three categories (fair and balanced, good faith, no false or promissory claims, no performance prediction) versus the narrower rules that skip certain categories
• Which categories require member-firm identification and which require disclosure of a financial interest when recommending a security
• Prior principal approval: why retail communications need it before first use or filing, while correspondence and institutional communications do not
• FINRA filing timelines for new member firms (10 business days before first use) versus established member firms (10 business days after first use for specific products such as direct participation programs and collateralized mortgage obligations)
• The excluded communications list: prospectuses, press releases, reprints, research reports, and all correspondence and institutional communications