Concerned about the increasingly frequent occurrences of elder financial abuse and potential future injuries to retail customers, and particularly to the elderly and other vulnerable parties, FINRA recently approved and implemented a rule regarding a registered person being named a customer's beneficiary or holding a position of trust for a customer. Many member firms have already updated policies and procedures and are providing training on the rule's rollout for their registered persons. The rule intends to create a structure through which member firms can prevent, manage, and supervise the potential conflicts of interest arising out of a registered representative holding a position of trust or being designated a beneficiary on a client account.

The purpose of this course is to give registered persons and their supervisors a thorough explanation of, and orientation to, the rule and the customer abuses it is intended to prevent. The course will lay out the environment in which the covered concerns arose, and sanctions previously imposed on the underlying conduct in some typical cases.

Upon conclusion of this course, students should:

• have a solid understanding of elder financial abuse
• have a solid understanding of the nature of the positions of trust and designations of beneficiary covered by the rule
• understand what your obligations are upon receiving notice that you have been named to such a designation or proposed designation
• understand what your responsibilities are regarding existing designations when you join a new firm
• understand the member firm compliance, supervisory, and recordkeeping obligations under the rule
• understand a member firm's ability to set a stricter standard for such designations and bequests
• understand the exceptions to the rule
• understand how the rule arose in conjunction with and works with other senior protection rules and statutes