Question

Difficulty: HardSettlement Dates, Trade Confirmations, and Corporate Actions

On Wednesday, June 10, a retail investor purchases 500 shares of corporate stock through a firm that fills the order by selling the shares directly out of its own inventory. Under FINRA and SEC rules governing standard regular-way transactions, on which business day will this trade settle, and how must the broker-dealer disclose its operational capacity on the trade confirmation sent to the customer?

  1. The trade settles on Thursday, June 11, and the confirmation must state that the firm acted as a principal and disclose the mark-up.Answer
  2. B
    The trade settles on Friday, June 12, and the confirmation must state that the firm acted as a principal and disclose the mark-up.
  3. C
    The trade settles on Thursday, June 11, and the confirmation must state that the firm acted as an agent and disclose the commission.
  4. D
    The trade settles on Friday, June 12, and the confirmation must state that the clearing corporation (NSCC) acted as a principal agent to execute the trade.

Answer

The trade settles on Thursday, June 11 (T+1), and the confirmation must state that the firm acted as a principal and disclose the mark-up.
Regular-way settlement for corporate securities occurs on T+1 (one business day following the trade date), making Thursday, June 11 the settlement date for a trade executed on Wednesday, June 10. Furthermore, when a firm executes an order out of its proprietary inventory, it acts in a principal (dealer) capacity and must state this capacity on the trade confirmation along with the mark-up charged.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine regular-way settlement date
Trade Date + 1 Business Day = Wednesday, June 10 + 1 day = Thursday, June 11
Standard regular-way settlement for corporate stock transactions is T+1 (one business day after trade execution).
2
Determine broker-dealer capacity and disclosure requirements
Selling from inventory = Principal (Dealer) capacity, requiring disclosure of mark-up
When a firm fills a customer order from its own inventory, it acts as a principal/dealer for its own account and receives a mark-up/mark-down rather than acting as a broker/agent charging a commission.

Key Concept

Regular-way settlement timeline (T+1) and broker-dealer capacity disclosure on trade confirmations
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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