Many opine the financial crisis was hastened by the financial industry’s use of byzantine and risky securities. FINRA recently released more specific guidance concerning supervision by broker dealers over the sale of complex products: Regulatory Notice 12-03, Complex Products: Heightened Supervision of Complex Products.The Notice provides helpful guidance for determining whether products require heightened supervision, as well as specific supervisory and compliance procedures firms should have in place. Characteristics of Complex Products FINRA notes that “any product with multiple features that affect its investment returns differently under various scenarios is potentially complex” and provides a non-exclusive list of characteristics to consider, including:
- Asset-backed securities secured by a pool of collateral (i.e. mortgages or consumer credit card payments) whose risks are not readily apparent;
- Any product with an embedded derivate component that is difficult to understand (i.e. structured notes with an embedded derivative); and
- Investments tied to the performance of markets not readily understood (i.e. an exchange traded product with exposure to futures on the CBOE Volatility Index).
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