Kan. Admin. Regs. § 81-3-6

Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 46, November 14, 2024

Section 81-3-6 - Dishonest or unethical practices of broker-dealers and agents

(a) Unethical conduct. "Dishonest or unethical practices," as used in K.S.A. 17-12a412(d) (13) and amendments thereto, shall include the conduct prohibited in this regulation and the failure to adhere to standards of conduct specified in this regulation.

(b) Fraudulent conduct. "An act, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit," as used in K.S.A. 17-12a501(3) and amendments thereto, shall include the conduct prohibited in paragraphs (e)(9)(A), (9)(B), (10), (11), (14) through (18), (20), (21), (24), and (27), paragraphs (f)(1) through (6), and subsections (g) and (i).

(c) General standard of conduct. A person registered as a broker-dealer or agent under the act shall not fail to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade in the conduct of the person's business.

(d) FINRA, NASD, New York stock exchange, and SEC rules and laws. Failure by a person registered as a broker-dealer or agent under the act to comply with any of the following rules and laws, as adopted by reference in K.A.R. 81-2-1, shall constitute unethical conduct in violation of this regulation:

(1) NASD conduct rules within the series of rules 2300, 2400, 2500, 2700, 2800, 3000, and 3100 and FINRA rules within the series of rules 2100, 2200, 2300, 3100, 3200, 3300, 5100, 5200, and 5300;

(2) rule 472 of the New York stock exchange, "communications with the public";

(3) section 17 of the securities act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. § 77 q;

(4) sections 9 and 10 of the securities exchange act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78 i and 78j;

(5) SEC regulation M, 17 C.F.R. 242.100 through 242.105;

(6) SEC regulation SHO, 17 C.F.R. 242.200 through 242.203; and

(7) SEC regulation FD, 17 C.F.R. 243.100 through 243.103.

(e) Prohibited conduct: sales and business practices. Each person registered as a broker-dealer or agent under the act shall refrain from the following practices in the conduct of the person's business. For purposes of this subsection, a security shall include any security as defined by K.S.A. 17-12a102, and amendments thereto, including a federal covered security as defined by K.S.A. 17-12a102, and amendments thereto, or section 2 of the securities act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. § 77 b, as adopted by reference in K.A.R. 81-2-1.

(1) Delays in delivery or payment. A broker-dealer shall not engage in a pattern of unreasonable and unjustifiable delays in the delivery of securities purchased by any of the broker-dealer's customers or in the payment upon request of free credit balances reflecting completed transactions of any of its customers.

(2) Excessive trading. A broker-dealer or agent shall not induce trading in a customer's account that is excessive in size or frequency in view of the financial resources and character of the account.

(3) Unsuitable recommendations. A broker-dealer or agent shall not recommend to a customer the purchase, sale, or exchange of any security without reasonable grounds to believe that the transaction or recommendation is suitable for the customer based upon reasonable inquiry concerning the customer's investment objectives, financial situation and needs, and any other relevant information known by the broker-dealer or agent.

(4) Unauthorized trading. A broker-dealer or agent shall not execute a transaction on behalf of a customer without authorization to do so.

(5) Improper use of discretionary authority. A broker-dealer or agent shall not exercise any discretionary power in effecting a transaction for a customer's account without first obtaining written discretionary authority from the customer, unless the discretionary power relates solely to the time or price for the execution of orders.

(6) Failure to obtain margin agreement. A broker-dealer or agent shall not execute any transaction in a margin account without securing from the customer a properly executed written margin agreement promptly after the initial transaction in the account.

(7) Failure to segregate. A broker-dealer shall not hold securities carried for the account of any customer that have been fully paid for or that are excess margin securities, unless the securities are segregated and identified by a method that clearly indicates the interest of the customer in those securities.

(8) Improper hypothecation. A broker-dealer shall not hypothecate a customer's securities without having a lien on the securities unless the broker-dealer has secured from the customer a properly executed written consent, except as permitted by SEC rule 8c-1, 17 C.F.R. 240.8c-1, or SEC rule 15c2-1, 17 C.F.R. 240.15c2 - 1, as adopted by reference in K.A.R. 81-2-1.

(9) Unreasonable charges. A broker-dealer or agent shall not engage in any of the following conduct:

(A) Entering into a transaction with or for a customer at a price not reasonably related to the current market price of the security;

(B) receiving an unreasonable commission or profit; or

(C) charging unreasonable and inequitable fees for services performed, including the collection of monies due for principal, dividends, or interest; exchange or transfer of securities; appraisals; safekeeping or custody of securities; and other miscellaneous services related to the broker-dealer's securities business.

(10) Failure to timely deliver prospectus. A broker-dealer or agent shall not fail to furnish to a customer purchasing securities in an offering, no later than the date of confirmation of the transaction, either a final prospectus or a preliminary prospectus and an additional document that together include all information set forth in the final prospectus.

(11) Contradicting prospectus. A broker-dealer or agent shall not contradict or negate the importance of any information contained in a prospectus or any other offering materials with the intent to deceive or mislead.

(12) Non-bona fide offers. A broker-dealer shall not offer to buy from or sell to any person any security at a stated price, unless the broker-dealer is prepared to purchase or sell at the price and under the conditions that are stated at the time of the offer to buy or sell.

(13) Misrepresentation of market price. A broker-dealer shall not represent that a security is being offered to a customer "at the market" or at a price relevant to the market price, unless the broker-dealer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that a market for the security exists other than a market made, created, or controlled by the broker-dealer, any person for whom the broker-dealer is acting or with whom the broker-dealer is associated in the distribution of securities, or any person controlled by, controlling, or under common control with the broker-dealer.

(14) Market manipulation. A broker-dealer or agent shall not effect any transaction in, or induce the purchase or sale of, any security by means of any manipulative, deceptive, or fraudulent device, practice, plan, program, design, or contrivance, including the following:

(A) Effecting any transaction in a security that involves no change in its beneficial ownership;

(B) entering an order or orders for the purchase or sale of any security with the knowledge that an order or orders of the same security for substantially the same volume, time, and price have been or will be entered for the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in the security or a false or misleading appearance with respect to the market for the security. However, nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit a broker-dealer from entering bona fide agency cross transactions for the broker-dealer's customers;

(C) effecting, alone or with one or more other persons, a series of transactions in any security creating actual or apparent active trading in the security or raising or depressing the price of the security for the purpose of inducing the purchase or sale of the security by others;

(D) engaging in general solicitation and using aggressive, high-pressure, or deceptive marketing tactics to affect the market price of the security; and

(E) using fictitious or nominee accounts.

(15) Guarantees against loss. A broker-dealer shall not guarantee a customer against loss in any securities account of the customer carried by the broker-dealer or in any securities transaction effected by the broker-dealer.

(16) Deceptive advertising. A broker-dealer or agent shall not use any advertising or sales presentation in a manner that is deceptive or misleading, including the following:

(A) Using words, pictures, or graphs in an advertisement, brochure, flyer, or display to present any nonfac-tual data or material; any conjecture, unfounded claims or assertions, or unrealistic claims or assertions; or any information that supplements, detracts from, supersedes or defeats the purpose or effect of any prospectus or disclosure; and

(B) publishing or circulating, or causing to be published or circulated, any notice, circular, advertisement, newspaper article, investment service, or communication of any kind that purports to report any transaction as a purchase or sale of any security unless the broker-dealer or agent believes that the transaction was a bona fide purchase or sale of the security or that purports to quote the bid price or asked price for any security unless the broker-dealer or agent believes that the quotation represents a bona fide bid for or offer of the security.

(17) Failure to disclose conflicts of interest. A broker-dealer shall not fail to disclose to any customer that the broker-dealer is controlled by, controlling, affiliated with, or under common control with the issuer of a security that is offered or sold to the customer. The disclosure shall be made before entering into any contract with or for the customer for the purchase or sale of the security, and if the disclosure is not made in writing, the disclosure shall be supplemented by the giving or sending of written disclosure before the completion of the transaction.

(18) Withholding securities. A broker-dealer shall not fail to make a bona fide public offering of all of the securities allotted to the broker-dealer for distribution, whether acquired as an underwriter, as a selling group member, or from a member participating in the distribution as an underwriter or selling group member, by engaging in conduct including the following:

(A) Parking or withholding securities; and

(B) transferring securities to a customer, another broker-dealer, or a fictitious account with the understanding that those securities will be returned to the broker-dealer or the broker-dealer's nominees.

(19) Failure to respond to customer. A broker-dealer shall not fail or refuse to furnish a customer, upon reasonable request, information to which the customer is entitled, or to respond to a formal written request or complaint.

(20) Misrepresenting the possession of nonpublic information. A broker-dealer or agent shall not falsely lead a customer to believe that the broker-dealer or agent is in possession of material, nonpublic information that would impact the value of a security.

(21) Contradictory recommendations. A broker-dealer or agent shall not engage in a pattern or practice of making contradictory recommendations to different investors of similar investment objectives for some to sell and others to purchase the same security, at or about the same time, if not justified by the particular circumstances of each investor.

(22) Lending, borrowing, or maintaining custody. An agent shall not lend or borrow money or securities from a customer, or act as a custodian for money, securities, or an executed stock power of a customer.

(23) Selling away. An agent shall not effect a securities transaction that is not recorded on the regular books or records of the broker-dealer that the agent represents, unless the transaction is authorized in writing by the broker-dealer before the execution of the transaction.

(24) Fictitious account information. An agent shall not establish or maintain an account containing fictitious information.

(25) Unauthorized profit-sharing. An agent shall not share directly or indirectly in the profits or losses in the account of any customer without the written authorization of the customer and the broker-dealer that the agent represents.

(26) Commission splitting. An agent shall not divide or otherwise split the agent's commissions, profits, or other compensation from the purchase or sale of securities with any person who is not also registered as an agent for the same broker-dealer or a broker-dealer under direct or indirect common control.

(27) Misrepresenting solicited transactions. A broker-dealer or agent shall not mark any order ticket or confirmation as unsolicited if the transaction was solicited.

(28) Failure to provide account statements. A broker-dealer or agent shall not fail to provide to each customer, for any month in which activity has occurred in a customer's account and at least every three months, a statement of account that contains a value for each over-the-counter non-Nasdaq equity security in the account based on the closing market bid on a date certain, if the broker-dealer has been a market maker in the security at any time during the period covered by the statement of account.

(f) Prohibited conduct: over-the-counter transactions. A broker-dealer or agent shall not engage in the following conduct in connection with the solicitation of a purchase or sale of an over-the-counter, unlisted non-Nasdaq equity security:

(1) Failing to disclose to a customer, at the time of solicitation and on the confirmation, any and all compensation related to a specific securities transaction to be paid to the agent, including commissions, sales charges, and concessions;

(2) in connection with a principal transaction by a broker-dealer that is a market maker, failing to disclose to a customer, both at the time of solicitation and on the confirmation, the existence of a short inventory position in the broker-dealer's account of more than three percent of the issued and outstanding shares of that class of securities of the issuer;

(3) conducting sales contests in a particular security;

(4) failing or refusing to promptly execute sell orders after a solicited purchase by a customer in connection with a principal transaction;

(5) soliciting a secondary market transaction if there has not been a bona fide distribution in the primary market;

(6) engaging in a pattern of compensating an agent in different amounts for effecting sales and purchases in the same security; and

(7) failing to promptly provide the most current prospectus or the most recently filed periodic report filed under section 13 of the securities exchange act of 1934 when requested to do so by the customer.

(g) Prohibited conduct: designated security transactions.

(1) Except as specified in paragraph (g)(2), a broker-dealer or agent shall not engage in the following conduct in connection with the solicitation of a purchase of a designated security:

(A) Failing to disclose to the customer the bid and ask price at which the broker-dealer effects transactions of the security with individual retail customers, as well as the price spread in both percentage and dollar amounts at the time of solicitation and on the trade confirmation documents; and

(B) failing to include with the confirmation a written explanation of the bid and ask price.

(2) Exceptions. Paragraph (g)(1) shall not apply to the following transactions:

(A) Transactions in which the price of the designated security is five dollars or more, exclusive of costs or charges. However, if the designated security is a unit composed of one or more securities, the unit price divided by the number of components of the unit other than warrants, options, rights, or similar securities shall be five dollars or more, and any component of the unit that is a warrant, option, right, or similar securities, or a convertible security shall have an exercise price or conversion price of five dollars or more;

(B) transactions that are not recommended by the broker-dealer or agent;

(C) transactions by a broker-dealer whose commissions, commission equivalents, and markups from transactions in designated securities during each of the immediately preceding three months, and during 11 or more of the preceding 12 months, did not exceed five percent of its total commissions, commission-equivalents, and markups from transactions in securities during those months and who has not executed principal transactions in connection with the solicitation to purchase the designated security that is the subject of the transaction in the immediately preceding 12 months; and

(D) any transaction or transactions that, upon prior written request or upon the administrator's own motion, the administrator conditionally or unconditionally exempts as not encompassed within the scope of paragraph (g)(1).

(h) Prohibited conduct: investment company shares.

(1) A broker-dealer or agent shall not engage in the following conduct in connection with the solicitation of a purchase or sale of investment company shares:

(A) Failing to adequately disclose to a customer all sales charges, including asset-based and contingent deferred sales charges, that could be imposed with respect to the purchase, retention, or redemption of investment company shares;

(B) stating or implying to a customer, either orally or in writing, that the shares are sold without a commission, are "no load," or have "no sales charge" if there is associated with the purchase of the shares a front-end charge; a contingent deferred sales charge; a fee pursuant to SEC rule 12b-1, 17 C.F.R. § 270.12b-1, as adopted by reference in K.A.R. 81-2-1, or a service fee that in total exceeds .25 percent of average net fund assets per year; or, in the case of closed-end investment company shares, underwriting fees, commissions, or other offering expenses;

(C) failing to disclose to a customer any relevant sales charge discount on the purchase of shares in dollar amounts at or above a breakpoint, or failing to disclose any relevant letter of intent feature, if available, that will reduce the sales charges;

(D) recommending to a customer the purchase of a specific class of investment company shares in connection with a multiclass sales charge or fee arrangement without reasonable grounds to believe that the sales charge or fee arrangement associated with the class of shares is suitable and appropriate based on the customer's investment objectives, financial situation, other securities holdings, and the associated transaction or other fees;

(E) recommending to a customer the purchase of investment company shares that results in the customer's simultaneously holding shares in different investment company portfolios having similar investment objectives and policies without reasonable grounds to believe that the recommendation is suitable and appropriate based on the customer's investment objectives, financial situation, other securities holdings, and any associated transaction charges or other fees;

(F) recommending to a customer the liquidation or redemption of investment company shares for the purpose of purchasing shares in a different investment company portfolio having similar investment objectives and policies without reasonable grounds to believe that the recommendation is suitable and appropriate based on the customer's investment objectives, financial situation, other securities holdings, and any associated transaction charges or other fees;

(G) stating or implying to a customer the fund's current yield or income without disclosing the fund's average annual total return, as stated in the fund's most recent form N-1A filed with the SEC, for one-year, five-year, and 10-year periods and without fully explaining the difference between current yield and total return. However, if the fund's registration statement under the securities act of 1933 has been in effect for less than one, five, or 10 years, the time during which the registration statement was in effect shall be substituted for the periods otherwise prescribed;

(H) stating or implying to a customer that the investment performance of an investment company portfolio is comparable to that of a savings account, certificate of deposit, or other bank deposit account without disclosing to the customer the fact that the shares are not insured or otherwise guaranteed by the federal deposit insurance corporation ("FDIC") or any other government agency and the relevant differences regarding risk, guarantees, fluctuation of principal or return or both, and any other factors that are necessary to ensure that the comparisons are fair, complete, and not misleading;

(I) stating or implying to a customer the existence of insurance, credit quality, guarantees, or similar features regarding securities held, or proposed to be held, in the investment company's portfolio without disclosing to the customer the other kinds of relevant investment risks, including interest rate, market, political, liquidity, and currency exchange risks, that could adversely affect investment performance and result in loss or fluctuation of principal despite the creditworthiness of the portfolio securities;

(J) stating or implying to a customer that the purchase of shares shortly before an ex dividend date is advantageous to the customer unless there are specific, clearly described tax or other advantages to the customer, or stating or implying that a distribution of long-term capital gains by an investment company is part of the income yield from an investment in the shares; and

(K) making projections of future performance, statements not warranted under existing circumstances, or statements based upon nonpublic information.

(2) In connection with the solicitation of investment company shares, the delivery of a prospectus shall not be dispositive that the broker-dealer or agent has given the customer full and fair disclosure or has otherwise fulfilled the duties specified in this subsection.

(i) Prohibited conduct: use of senior-specific certifications and professional designations.

(1) A broker-dealer or agent shall not use a senior-specific certification or designation that indicates or implies that the user has special certification or training in advising or servicing senior citizens or retirees in any way that misleads any person. This prohibition shall include the following:

(A) The use of a certification or professional designation by a person who has not earned or is otherwise ineligible to use the certification or designation;

(B) the use of a nonexistent or self-conferred certification or professional designation;

(C) the use of a certification or professional designation that indicates or implies a level of occupational qualifications obtained through education, training, or experience that the person using the certification or professional designation does not have; and

(D) the use of a certification or professional designation that was obtained from a designating or certifying organization that meets any of the following conditions:

(i) Is primarily engaged in the business of instruction in sales or marketing;

(ii) does not have reasonable standards or procedures for ensuring the competency of its designees or certificate holders;

(iii) does not have reasonable standards or procedures for monitoring and disciplining its designees or certificate holders for improper or unethical conduct; or

(iv) does not have reasonable continuing education requirements for its designees or certificate holders to maintain the professional designation or certification.

(2) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a designating or certifying organization is not disqualified solely for purposes of paragraph (i)(1)(D) if the organization has been accredited by any of the following:

(A) The American national standards institute;

(B) the national commission for certifying agencies; or

(C) an organization that is on the United States department of education's list titled "accrediting agencies recognized for title IV purposes," if the designation or credential does not primarily apply to sales or marketing, or both.

(3) In determining whether a combination of words or an acronym or initialism standing for a combination of words constitutes a certification or professional designation indicating or implying that a person has special certification or training in advising or servicing senior citizens or retirees, the factors to be considered shall include the following:

(A) The use of one or more words including "senior," "retirement," "elder," or similar words, combined with one or more words including "certified," "registered," "chartered," "adviser," "specialist," "consultant," "planner," or similar words, in the name of the certification or professional designation; and

(B) the manner in which the words are combined.

(4) For purposes of this subsection, the terms "certification" and "professional designation" shall not include a job title within an organization that is licensed or registered by a state or federal financial services regulatory agency, including an agency that regulates broker-dealers, investment advisers, or investment companies, if that job title indicates seniority or standing within the organization or specifies an individual's area of specialization within the organization.

Kan. Admin. Regs. § 81-3-6

Authorized by K.S.A. 17-12a605(a); implementing K.S.A. 17-12a412(d)(13), 17- 12a501(3), and 17-12a608; effective Aug. 18, 2006; amended May 22, 2009; amended by Kansas Register Volume 34, No. 51; effective 1/4/2016.