FINRA Imposes a Fine on Vision Financial

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently announced that Vision Financial Markets LLC and Vision Brokerage Services have agreed to pay a fine as part of the settlement with the authority. According to the details shared by FINRA, Vision Financial and Vision Brokerage failed to establish and implement an appropriate anti-money laundering program.

Since 2000, Vision Brokerage has been a member of FINRA. Vision Financial received FINRA’s membership in 2008. Additionally, the authority noted that Vision Financial entered into a settlement with the SEC in March 2019, in which it was censured and ordered to pay a civil penalty of $625,000.

“From September 2016 through December 2020, Vision Financial and Vision Brokerage failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering (AML) program reasonably designed to achieve and monitor the firm’s compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the implementing regulations thereunder. In particular, the firms did not establish and implement policies and procedures tailored to the firm's business, which could be reasonably expected to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious activity arising from transactions and money movements in domestic and foreign-based retail accounts,” FINRA noted.

On top of that, the authority highlighted that during the mentioned period, Vision Financial accepted clients who were domiciled outside the United States. Vision Financial and Vision Brokerage failed to develop and maintain an effective supervisory system.

AML Program

The authority mentioned that all broker-dealers are required to develop and implement an appropriate AML program. Last month, ViewTrade was fined $250,000 for AML and reporting lapses.

“From August 2018 through December 2020, Vision Financial provided its customers with direct market access to an alternative trading system (ATS) and multiple exchanges but failed to establish, document and maintain financial risk management controls and procedures reasonably designed to limit the financial and regulatory risks associated with this activity. Vision Financial’s failures resulted in potentially manipulative trading occurring and orders entering the markets without being subjected to reasonably designed risk management controls,” FINRA added.