Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
By 
August 08, 2022 at 04:33 PM
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is warning broker-dealers that allow digital signatures to have adequate controls in place to detect signature forgery or falsification.
In a recent regulatory notice, FINRA says that it has received “an increasing number of reports” regarding registered reps forging or falsifying investor client signatures, and in some cases signatures of colleagues or supervisors, through third-party digital signature platforms.
“Firms have, for example, identified signature issues involving a wide range of forms, including account opening documents and updates, account activity letters, discretionary trading authorizations, wire instructions and internal firm documents related to the review of customer transactions,” the reg notice states.
The notice points out:
- Relevant regulatory obligations.
- Forgery and falsification scenarios firms have reported to FINRA.
- Methods that firms have used to identify those scenarios.
Signing someone else’s name to a document violates FINRA rules when it is a forgery or falsification.
Forgery, according to the notice, occurs when one person signs or affixes, or causes to be signed or affixed, another person’s name or initials on a document without the other person’s prior permission.
