FINRA Escalates Unit Investment Trust Short Term Trading Enforcement

By Tom Stout | June 05, 2020

With FINRA announcing its largest enforcement settlement of 2020 last Wednesday with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. for short term trading of Unit Investment Trusts (“UITs”), now is a good time to catch up with recent FINRA enforcement activity and the progress of one of its enforcement priorities over the last several years.

First, some recent history. The Stifel settlement appears to be the culmination of a four-year long push by FINRA to rein in firms it views as engaging in unsuitable short-term trading of UITs and other long-term investments.
‍