New Rule Expands Suitability Requirements to Customer Recommendations

NEW YORK – July 9, 2012 – With newly strengthened customer suitability rules in effect starting today, BondDesk Group LLC announced the availability of an advanced new Suitability Module for its award winning BondWorks™ Wealth Management Platform.  BondDesk is a leading provider of fixed income technology and operator of the largest odd-lot fixed income alternative trading system (ATS) in the United States.

The BondWorks Suitability Module helps financial advisors meet the requirements of the new FINRA Rule 2111 by enabling them to run pre-trade suitability tests on investment ideas even before recommending them to their customers.  The module provides alerts when potential transactions may not be suitable for a customer’s investment profile, halting potential violations before they happen.  Lack of pre-trade suitability testing can lead to weakened investor relationships and a greater risk of costly trade cancellations and large fines for the advisor’s firm.

“Most suitability software systems today operate post-trade, thereby missing the requirement that recommendations, not only transactions, be suitable,” said Kamaryn Tanner, Managing Director at BondDesk Group.  “Our clients are thrilled with this new module because it helps keep costs down while at the same time provides the financial advisors with a tool that helps them build trusting relationships with their customers.”
“The strengthened suitability rule from FINRA is extremely important, as it serves to further protect end investors and the advisors and firms that serve them,” said Will Rhode, Director of Fixed Income Research at Tabb Group. “With all these new regulations, it’s important that vendors are proactive in helping firms navigate this increasingly complex environment to better serve their customers and ensure they remain in compliance.”

Background on FINRA Rule 2111

New FINRA Rule 2111 requires that a firm or associated person “have a reasonable basis to believe that a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving a security or securities is suitable for the customer, based on the information obtained through the reasonable diligence of the member or associated person to ascertain the customer’s investment profile.”  FINRA originally proposed Rule 2111 on November 17, 2010, with an original implementation deadline of October 7, 2011.  However, the deadline was extended to July 9, 2012 to allow firms additional time to update systems and modify procedures to ensure compliance with the new rules and regulations.

About BondDesk
BondDesk Group LLC is a leading financial technology company providing innovative, enterprise-wide fixed income solutions to a community of over 2,000 investment firms, including many of the top broker-dealers in North America. BondDesk’s workstation solutions, including its flagship BondWorks™ Wealth Management Platform, enable over 100,000 financial advisors and asset managers to trade bonds with confidence, manage client portfolios and attract new assets. The company’s industry-leading advisor workstation, price transparency, portfolio management and compliance solutions empower wealth managers to better service the needs of the investing public.  BondWorks is the first financial services solution to win the highly coveted “Best Application Design” award from the Nielsen Norman Group (NNG), one of the world’s leading design and usability research and consultancy firms.
In addition, the BondDesk Alternative Trading System (ATS), operated by BondDesk Trading LLC, provides the BondDesk community with access to an aggregated pool of over 110,000 daily live offerings of odd-lot fixed income securities in a broad range of asset classes. The BondDesk Trading ATS executes over 20,000 transactions per day with high fill ratios and price quality.

BondDesk Trading LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BondDesk Group LLC.

To learn more, visit www.bonddeskgroup.com, and follow @BondDesk on Twitter.

For more information, please contact:

Jed Hamilton
Intermarket Communications
+1 212 754 5479
jhamilton@intermarket.com

Nick Lawler
Intermarket Communications
+1 212 754 5613
nlawler@intermarket.com