On April 20, 2018, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) applied to the SEC to delay to March 25, 2019 the implementation date of most of its Rule 4210 margin requirement amendments adopted in 2016 (other than its risk limit determination amendments previously implemented on December 15, 2016). Rule 4210 describes the margin requirements for equity, fixed income securities, options, warrants and security futures that determine the amount of collateral that customers are expected to maintain in their margin accounts. The Rule 4210 amendments cover the margining of various transactions including specified pool transactions and transactions in collateralized mortgage obligations, all of which are issued in conformity with a program of an agency or government-sponsored enterprise. This extension would allow FINRA to reconsider the burdens and potential impact that the amendments may have on smaller and medium-sized broker-dealers. The Rule 4210 amendments were initially scheduled to take effect on June 25, 2018. FINRA has requested that the SEC waive the requirement that a proposed rule change's effectiveness be delayed for 30 days after filing. For more information, see http://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/rule_filing_file/SR-FINRA-2018-017.pdf..
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