UpFront » May 2025

Both a trade group and a regulator are reviewing numerous SEC enforcement actions centered on off-channel communications violations for using messaging apps such as WhatsApp. The American Securities Association (ASA) and FINRA are both scrutinizing the settlements that resulted in fines of more than $3 billion since 2021, but for different reasons. FrontLine Compliance Founder and President Amy Lynch has the lead comments in the IGNITES story discussing ASA’s objective of uncovering how the SEC…

Legislation recently introduced by the House would seek to severely diminish the regulatory role of FINRA and transfer its rulemaking, examination and enforcement authority to the SEC. The McClain bill follows a policy recommendation offered by Project 2025, an initiative of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Amy Lynch, FrontLine’s Founder and President, discusses the consequences should FINRA’s regulatory authority be stripped and transitioned to the SEC. She explains that the SEC lacks the…