FINRA Plan May Dramatically Change The Way Brokerage Firms Report On Nontraded REITS & Other Illiquid Investments on Client Statements

金融业监管局委员会制定了一项计划，可以从根本上修改经纪公司报告非流动性投资对客户帐户报表的价值。SRO希望使投资者在此类投资的实际价值方面具有更高的透明度，但一直在试图修改其关于REIT的规则和一年多的客户对客户报表的私人估值。

Earlier this month, in changes it is proposing to Rule 2340, the FINRA board presented two reporting alternatives for brokerage firms. With the first option, a brokerage firm wouldn’t need to have the per-share estimated value of an REIT or a private placement that is unlisted included in customers’ account statements. The second choice lets a brokerage firm chose from three options:

• A valuation done by an external service at least one time every three years.
• A valuation performed by a service that performs valuations according the methodology revealed in the prospectus.
•在初始投资后的几年中，“净投资”估值由发行价格组成，而没有现金，该估值通过出售或借入收益支付给投资者以及向投资者以及“组织和送出费用”。

大多数非贸易房地产投资信托基金以每股10美元的价格出售，他们通常在客户的帐户声明中以该价值保持在该价值，直到房地产投资信托基地房地产投资信托基金（REIT）停止筹集资金以来已经过去一年半。这意味着几年可能会过去，而客户无法看到非交易的房地产投资信托基金的价值与$ 10/股价的价值不同。

However, when the recent credit crisis hit, some of the biggest nontraded REITs experienced steep drops in valuation each quarter, and advisers and investors found it difficult to figure out how, why, and to what extent the valuation declines occurred. The matter of the way a nontraded REIT should be valued (and a brokerage firm’s duty to make sure that valuation is stated on client account statements) has become a highly charged issued.

Also, to the dismay of FINRA, its examiners, who have studied quite a number of retail sellers of nontraded REITs in the last couple of years, have found that firms selling these instruments didn’t perform much reasonable diligence before selling them or failed to determine whether the product was appropriate for investors. In comments made to a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association forum last year, FINRA executive vice present of member regulation sales practices Susan Axelrod said that when REITs have gotten into financial trouble, there were usually red flags that brokerage firms could have assessed first before making more sales.

Our REIT lawyers represent investment fraud victims. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP today.

Finra plan could upend illiquid investment reporting，投资新闻，2013年4月24日

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