Proposed FINRA Corporate Financing Rule Change

On October 30, 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) filed a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 5110 (Corporate Financing Rule – Underwriting Terms and Arrangements) (the “Rule”), which is the main FINRA rule regarding compensation in securities offerings, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Rule was last revised in 2004 to reflect the expanded variety of FINRA members’ activities and has once again been revisited as part of FINRA’s retrospective self-review. The October 30, 2018 proposed Rule is the result of extensive industry review and consultation, including FINRA Regulatory Notice 17-15 and the related industry comments and reflects FINRA’s goals of simplifying, modernizing and clarifying its rules. In this Legal Update, we summarize the provisions of the proposed Rule.