The National Adjudicatory Council ("NAC"), FINRA's appellate tribunal for disciplinary action, modified the principal considerations ("Principal Considerations") in its Sanctions Guidelines to expressly include the consideration of physical or mental health status and age of an individual when determining the reason that a customer was unable to protect his or her own interests. Specifically, FINRA (i) amended Principal Consideration No. 19 to include the factors of mental or physical impairment and (ii) added a new consideration, Principal Consideration No. 20, to include the age of a customer as a factor if the customer is 65 or older. The NAC added the new consideration in order to be consistent with FINRA Rule 2165 ("Financial Exploitation of Specified Adults").
The revised guidelines are effective immediately.
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