The SIPA

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support during the most recent election for the Small Firm seat on the FINRA Board of Governors. I was thrilled and extremely honored to receive the phone call this week from Robert Cook/FINRA telling me that I won. I look forward to working […]

Is it time for optimism for small firms? FINRA recently announced that Paige Pierce has won a seat on the FINRA board of governors to represent the roughly 3000 small firms that are still left. The SIPA has supported her in her past elections for the NAC and the board and we were proud to […]

Let Paige Pierce finish the job! To my Small Firm colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I have thrown my hat into the ring for the FINRA Board and I would really appreciate your support in getting my name on the ballot. To earn my spot on the […]

Is it really worth it? After years of fighting for small members rights, we are beginning to question whether its worth it financially to continue with any of these elections nationwide. The Financial Industry Association (FIA) and later the SIPA , along with others like attorney and small firm advocate, Bill Singer of  Broke and […]

  Make your voice heard!   It’s that time again when owners of Broker Dealers get slammed with phone calls, emails and faxes asking for their vote. While his can be a little annoying at time we urge you to remember that this is the right we fought for years ago.  There was once a […]

Greetings from the Securities Industry Professional Association.  It is with great privilege that we ask all SIPA members to seriously consider signing the enclosed petition for Mr. David Banerjee to be on the ballot for the National Adjudicatory Council.   I have personally known David for nearly 15 years and consider him uniquely qualified to represent […]

The SIPA ia proud to support Steven Thornton for the NAC.   He is a small firm owner and SIPA member who has been a supporter of your causes for years.  Please print and fax his petition as soon as possible so he can be added to the ballot.  This petition is only to have […]

Now more then ever, make your voice heard! As we have in the past, the SIPA is urging all members to have your voice heard loud and strong and to use your vote wisely.  We have been approached by Paige Peirce and Carrie Wisniewski regarding their quest to be placed on the ballot.  Remember, this […]

FINRA announced yesterday that Robert Keenan, owner of St. Bernard Financial and a long time SIPA member has won the small firm seat on the Board of Governors.  Keenan defeated fellow SIPA member and current board member Jed Bandes in a close election. We are proud of the efforts put into this important election and […]

            T-BONE Lessons from George Costanza   Long ago I learned that literally all lessons in life can somehow be related to either the “Godfather” or in some strange way “Seinfeld”.  Over the past year small firms have been flooded with hate spewing e-mails that seem to obsess about the […]

 Candidates bring solutions to the table The Financial Services Exchange (FSX) once again was the only small firm advocate that was willing to hold an open and candid debate of the candidates for FINRA’s small firm position and just like past years, they asked members of the SIPA to help out.  When Judy Ensweiler of […]

A small firm seat on FINRA’s Board of Governors will be up for election soon and the petition process has begun.  The nominating committee chose to nominate W. Dennis Ferguon for the mid sized seat and some guy named Seth Waugh of Deustche Bank.  We have no idea who Seth is but we have known […]

Another reason we are supporting Sobel is that he is a man of his word and so are we. In 2009 Stephen Kohn and David Sobel were locked in a battle to contest the FINRA nominee for the open NAC seat and we decided to intervene so as to not split the contested dissident vote. After many conversations, David decided it was best for the small firm movement to step aside, support Stephen Kohn and not dilute the small firm vote and Kohn won in a landslide.

The Sipa has learned that Ken Norensberg has been elected to a second term on the Finra Board of Governors by a relatively large vote. Although not official, we believe Ken received 836 votes while Alan Davidson received 525 votes

Recap of the last several months since the last election. The team of Ken, Joel and Jed have: · Voiced Members concerns with Representatives from the PCAOB, OATS, Enforcement, Examinations, the Ombudsman, Various Districts and many more. · Created transparency by issuing letters to the Members after each Board meeting informing you what happened at […]

This election is very important and we need the Members to show a unified front. If you surround yourself with positive people, you will achieve positive results....believe it! Enclosed is my resume and other important information about this election and my history.

Do you feel like we have lost the “self” in Self Regulatory Organization? As a small b/d owner, I am disheartened that my b/d is being treated in the same category as Madoff and Stanford, although I understand why. FINRA and the SEC both failed to protect public customers in the face of overwhelming evidence at both of those firms that something was seriously wrong.

I wanted to thank you for the support that you have shown the team of Ken, Joel and Jed. What the Members did was unprecedented! Please sign the attached petition so that the team can continue to be informed voices on the Board of Governors. Ken’s Petition for the Board of Governors United we stand! All the best, […]

When choosing a candidate take into account this staggering number we just quoted. Ask them what they intend to do to help stop the slaughter of small firms through excessive regulation and costly rule implementation that does little or nothing to protect the public. Ask them what rules they would change and keep the same and ask them if they know what it costs to implement the various trade reporting, AML and PCAOB audits

Some where along the way the unions went from protecting workers to intimidating them as well as our Government. I never really understood this phenomenon. GM, Ford and Chrysler have had strong unions for years and years and it afforded workers solidarity and negotiating power. That was until a guy with a high school education started making $80,000 per year to run a bolt through some sheet metal.

We hope that FINRA's attempt in all this is to allow a truly fair and open system rather then trying to dilute the vote among small firm candidates while counting on their pet trade organizations to support a single candidate of their choosing. Even if that's the case it will still be the voice of the small firm and this is what we have been fighting years for The SIPA intends to sit this election out and allow the members to decide for themselves who should speak for them.

The decision by the Trustee is puzzling on so many levels I almost do not know where to begin so In keeping with my theme from my speech last week to Broker Dealers at the Financial Services Exchange meeting in Atlanta: Follow the money!

AS WELL AS AN INCREASE IN COMMISSIONS Houston we have a problem. Perhaps no phrase has ever spoken more about a problem than these famous words from Apollo 13 years ago. One little problem turned into thousands of people working day and night to try and solve a ‘problem’ that eventually led to the safe […]

Say what? Merrill Lynch is a small firm? Last I checked they were one of the largest firms on the street with more reps then most cities. Now I know that they have many divisions and brokerage arms at these mega firms but give me a break.

We can only do so much here and we think its important to let the candidates know how you feel instead of just beating us up. We are here to help the small firms and brokers out there and unlike other group sout there we believe in accountability and if our guys aren't living up to their word then we will find others that will.

The recent FINRA Board election was nothing less then astounding considering the fact that the SIPA members faced not only strong challenges by well known FINRA nominees but by habitual board candidates that appeared to try and dilute the dissident vote as a favor for FINRA. Much to our surprise though, the members and supporters came out in droves and quite frankly the margin of victory was nothing short of astonishing.

The SIPA has been asked to help moderate a “Meet The Candidates” forum on Friday July 30th at the Financial Services Exchange meeting being held this week at the Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Candidates for the three FINRA Board of Governors seats include Jed Bandes, Joel Blumenschein and Ken Norensberg. In addition, invitations were also extended to other candidates who were appointed by FINRA and as of this writing only Lisa Roth has agreed to attend and we credit her for being open to this question and answer.

With this in mind all three candidates have agreed that upon being voted onto the board their first order of business will be to immediately demand the board to distribute a minimum of $35,000 in funds to all member firms of record. In addition, the candidates believe that if a higher payment is possible, that the funds above that also be immediately distributed to the member owners. This is your money not the regulators

Do you trust FINRA? It’s a simple yes or no answer that is at the heart of this election. Do you believe FINRA has YOUR best interests in mind or do they cater to a certain segment of Firms? If you believe that FINRA has shown itself to be completely trust worthy, then by all means vote for their handpicked candidates.

The SIPA is pleased to announce that the petition candidates for the FINRA Board of Governors have obtained the necessary number of petitions and will be on the ballot as a slate this summer. The candidates contested previously appointed Board members of FINRA and have worked diligently to obtain not only your support but your input and have made themselves available to al FINRA members with concerns or questions.

changes the Safe Harbor rule limiting your expansion capabilities (makes you ask permission from FINRA for virtually any new lines of business or expansions beyond “safe harbor”). Again, preventing you from potential revenue while the district takes its time to approve.

PETITION FOR NOMINATION

One would think that in light of the financial meltdown as well as the Financial Reform being proposed by Congress that FINRA would seek to reform or maybe even change its current Board and get new blood in the system…But no, not FINRA. FINRA re nominated the existing Head Governor as well as numerous other existing board members to new terms. This makes sense only if there is a bigger picture which fools like me often overlook.

Rants and raves from the SIPA C & C music factory had a whole generation of people uttering these now famous words back in the 1990’s. As we review some of the changes that are occurring right before our eyes with the financial system, its apparent that there is more confusion then ever before instead […]

The SIPA has been receiving countless e-mails and phone calls from members and non members asking how they should vote. Based upon the NAC election many feel comfortable the SIPA will give them a blunt and honest assessment of the candidates. We would love to wave a magic wand and tell thousands across the country how we think they should vote but quite frankly, the SFAB is a quite confusing and mostly ineffective group

Now that the NAC election is over, and the next big election is on the horizon, the Board of Governors, it is probably time to discuss the FINRA election process

My opponent, the FINRA Nominating Committee choice sent you a letter urging your support on firm letterhead declaring his NYSE Membership to the World. No comment of any FINRA Membership was made. Is this who he intends to represent? NYSE firms? The FINRA selection fails to understand this is a small firm NAC election. Perhaps he should be seeking a position with the NYSE where his interest obviously rests.