Rules 9700 Through 11400, Explained One Rule at a Time
This is Part 9 of FRC's FINRA Rules Quick Reference, continuing directly from Part 8's coverage of eligibility and exemption proceedings. This piece closes out the Code of Procedure entirely, then opens FINRA's Uniform Practice Code, the rulebook covering the mechanics of settling and delivering securities once a trade has actually been executed.
FRC's SIE Exam Preparation course covers the foundational settlement and delivery material every entry-level candidate is tested on. The Series 7 Exam Preparation course goes further into the trade-settlement mechanics a fully licensed registered representative needs to understand.
Cease and Desist Orders and the Uniform Practice Code
More in This FINRA Rules Quick Reference Series
This guide is part of a ten-part series. The other nine parts are Part 1: Membership and Registration, Part 2: Duties and Conflicts, Part 3: Supervision and Financial Rules, Part 4: Securities Offerings and Market Reporting, Part 5: Trade Reporting and Investigations, Part 6: Sanctions and Disciplinary Procedure, Part 7: Hearings and Appeals, Part 8: Eligibility and Exemption Proceedings, and Part 10: Close-Out Procedures and Final Delivery Rules.
FINRA Rule 9700: Procedures on Grievances Concerning the Automated Systems
Rule 9700 is the section heading introducing the process for a person aggrieved by the operation of a FINRA-owned or operated automated quotation, execution, or communication system to seek redress. It covers a distinct category of grievance separate from the disciplinary and eligibility proceedings covered earlier in this series.
FINRA Rule 9800: Temporary and Permanent Cease and Desist Orders
Rule 9800 is the section heading opening the procedural framework for temporary and permanent cease and desist orders, the tool FINRA uses to stop specific ongoing conduct quickly rather than waiting for a full disciplinary proceeding to conclude. Every rule from 9810 through 9870 sits underneath this heading.
FINRA Rule 9810: Initiation of Proceeding
Rule 9810 sets out how a temporary or permanent cease and desist proceeding is actually initiated, including the requirement that a proposed order accompany the notice starting the proceeding. If enforcement hasn't already filed the underlying disciplinary complaint under Rule 9211, this rule requires it to be filed alongside the cease and desist notice.
FINRA Rule 9820: Appointment of Hearing Officer and Hearing Panel
Rule 9820 sets out how a hearing officer and hearing panel are appointed specifically for a cease and desist proceeding, including which individuals are eligible to serve given the urgency these cases involve. It ensures a case this time-sensitive still gets a properly constituted panel quickly.
FINRA Rule 9830: Hearing
Rule 9830 sets out the hearing procedures specific to a cease and desist proceeding, generally compressed relative to the standard disciplinary hearing timeline given the urgency involved. It gives the respondent a genuine hearing opportunity without sacrificing the speed the cease and desist mechanism exists to provide.
FINRA Rule 9840: Issuance of Order by Hearing Panel
Rule 9840 sets out the standard the hearing panel applies before issuing a temporary cease and desist order, and the specific required content of both temporary and permanent orders. A permanent cease and desist order remains effective and enforceable unless later modified, set aside, limited, or suspended under Rule 9850.
FINRA Rule 9850: Review by Hearing Panel
Rule 9850 sets out the process for a hearing panel to review, and potentially modify, set aside, limit, or suspend, a cease and desist order it has already issued. It gives the panel ongoing authority over an order rather than treating its initial issuance as the final word.
FINRA Rule 9870: Application to SEC for Review
Rule 9870 sets out the process for seeking SEC review of a decision issued under the temporary and permanent cease and desist order framework. It closes out this series with the same federal-level backstop available throughout the rest of the Code of Procedure.
FINRA Rule 9900: Restrictions on Former FINRA Officers and Employees; Nonpublic Information
Rule 9900 is the section heading introducing restrictions on former FINRA officers and employees, particularly around their use of nonpublic information obtained during their FINRA employment. It closes out the entire Code of Procedure with a rule protecting the integrity of FINRA's own regulatory information.
FINRA Rule 9910: Post-Employment Conflict of Interest Restrictions; Nonpublic Information
Rule 9910 sets out the specific post-employment restrictions former FINRA officers and employees face, including limits tied to nonpublic information they had access to while at FINRA. It prevents someone from leveraging regulatory insider knowledge for personal or client advantage after leaving FINRA.
FINRA Rule 11000: Uniform Practice Code
Rule 11000 is the section heading opening the Uniform Practice Code, the part of the rulebook governing the day-to-day mechanics of comparing, confirming, and delivering securities once a trade has been executed. This entire series exists to make settlement practices consistent across the industry rather than left to each firm's own convention.
FINRA Rule 11100: Scope of Uniform Practice Code
Rule 11100 sets out the scope of the Uniform Practice Code, establishing which transactions and members it actually applies to and any relevant exceptions. It frames the boundaries of everything the rest of the 11000 series covers.
FINRA Rule 11110: Committees
Rule 11110 establishes the Uniform Practice Code Committee, giving it the power to issue interpretations or rulings on the Code's applicability in situations where the underlying facts aren't substantially disputed. Its purpose is to make custom, practice, and trading technique genuinely uniform across the industry and reduce disputes rooted in inconsistent conventions.
FINRA Rule 11111: Refusal to Abide by Rulings of the Committee
Rule 11111 treats a member's refusal to take action necessary to effectuate a final UPC Committee decision as conduct inconsistent with just and equitable principles of trade. It gives the Committee's rulings real enforceability rather than leaving them as advisory opinions members can simply ignore.
FINRA Rule 11112: Review by Panels of the UPC Committee
Rule 11112 sets out the process for a party to seek review of a Uniform Practice Code Committee ruling by a panel of that Committee. It gives members a way to challenge a specific ruling rather than treating every Committee decision as automatically final.
FINRA Rule 11120: Definitions
Rule 11120 defines the specific terms used throughout the Uniform Practice Code, giving the more substantive settlement and delivery rules that follow a shared, consistent vocabulary. Consistent definitions matter enormously here since the whole point of the Code is eliminating ambiguity in settlement practice.
FINRA Rule 11121: Trade Date
Rule 11121 defines what actually constitutes the trade date for purposes of the Uniform Practice Code, the reference point that settlement timelines and other Code provisions are built around. It removes ambiguity about the single most important date in the entire settlement process.
FINRA Rule 11130: When, As and If Issued/Distributed Contracts
Rule 11130 sets out the requirements for confirming a "when, as and if issued" or "when, as and if distributed" contract, a transaction in a security that hasn't actually been issued yet. It requires a written confirmation describing the security and the plan under which it is expected to be issued, since the underlying security doesn't exist yet at the time of the trade.
FINRA Rule 11140: Transactions in Securities "Ex-Dividend," "Ex-Rights" or "Ex-Warrants"
Rule 11140 sets out when a transaction is treated as trading "ex-dividend," "ex-rights," or "ex-warrants," meaning the buyer will not receive an upcoming dividend, rights offering, or warrant distribution attached to that security. Getting this date right matters enormously, since it determines which party, buyer or seller, actually receives the pending distribution.
FINRA Rule 11150: Transactions "Ex-Interest" in Bonds Which Are Dealt in "Flat"
Rule 11150 applies the same ex-date logic as Rule 11140 to bonds trading flat, meaning without accrued interest priced separately into the transaction. It ensures accrued interest entitlements on these specific bonds are allocated consistently between buyer and seller.
FINRA Rule 11160: "Ex" Liquidating Payments
Rule 11160 extends the same ex-date framework to liquidating payments, principal payments made in connection with a security's wind-down, using the same formula established in Rules 11140 and 11150. It closes a gap that would otherwise leave liquidating distributions without a clear settlement rule.
FINRA Rule 11170: Transactions in "Part-Redeemed" Bonds
Rule 11170 sets out how a transaction is settled when the underlying bond has already been partially redeemed before maturity, requiring the settlement price to be calculated against the bond's original principal amount. It ensures a partial redemption doesn't create pricing confusion in a subsequent trade of that same bond.
FINRA Rule 11190: Reconfirmation and Pricing Service Participants
Rule 11190 requires a member or its agent that participates in a registered clearing agency for OTC securities clearing to also participate in fail reconfirmation and pricing services when those services are offered. It keeps firms engaged in the broader infrastructure that helps resolve failed trades and pricing disputes across the industry.
FINRA Rule 11200: Comparisons or Confirmations and "Don't Know Notices"
Rule 11200 is the section heading introducing the rules governing trade comparisons, confirmations, and "don't know" notices, the mechanism a firm uses when it cannot reconcile a reported trade against its own records. It sets up the framework the more specific confirmation rules that follow operate within.
FINRA Rule 11210: Sent by Each Party
Rule 11210 requires each party to a transaction to send a confirmation or comparison to the other, establishing the mutual documentation obligation that underlies the entire comparison and confirmation process. It ensures both sides of a trade create matching, independent records of what was actually agreed.
FINRA Rule 11220: Description of Securities
Rule 11220 sets out the requirements for how a security must actually be described on a confirmation or comparison, ensuring both parties are unambiguously referring to the same instrument. It closes a potential gap where a vague or inconsistent description could create a genuine settlement dispute.
FINRA Rule 11300: Delivery of Securities
Rule 11300 is the section heading opening the rules governing the actual physical and book-entry delivery of securities in settlement of a trade. Every rule from 11310 through 11365 covering delivery mechanics sits underneath this heading.
FINRA Rule 11310: Book-Entry Settlement
Rule 11310 sets out the requirements for settling a transaction through book-entry, the electronic transfer method that has largely replaced physical certificate delivery in modern securities settlement. It reflects how securities delivery actually happens for the overwhelming majority of trades today.
FINRA Rule 11320: Dates of Delivery
Rule 11320 sets out the specific delivery timeline for different transaction types, including same-day delivery for cash transactions and distinct timelines for standard, seller's option, and buyer's option transactions. Every delivery under this rule must be accompanied by a Uniform Delivery Ticket documenting the transaction.
FINRA Rule 11330: Payment
Rule 11330 sets out the payment requirements accompanying the delivery of securities, establishing how and when payment must actually change hands relative to delivery. It closes the loop between the physical or electronic transfer of securities and the corresponding movement of funds.
FINRA Rule 11340: Stamp Taxes
Rule 11340 sets out how any applicable stamp tax on a securities transaction is allocated between the parties to the trade. It ensures a tax obligation tied to the transfer itself doesn't become a source of settlement disputes between buyer and seller.
FINRA Rule 11350: Part Delivery
Rule 11350 sets out the standards for delivering a transaction in partial installments rather than as a single complete delivery. It gives the settlement process flexibility when a full, single delivery genuinely isn't practical.
FINRA Rule 11360: Units of Delivery
Rule 11360 is the section heading introducing the specific unit-of-delivery requirements for different security types, covering stocks, bonds, unit investment trusts, and certificates of deposit for bonds in the rules that follow. It sets the framework the more specific unit rules build detailed requirements on top of.
FINRA Rule 11361: Units of Delivery — Stocks
Rule 11361 sets out the specific certificate denominations acceptable when delivering stock in settlement of a contract, generally in units of 100 shares or combinations that total the contracted amount. It standardizes exactly what a stock certificate delivery is actually supposed to look like.
FINRA Rule 11362: Units of Delivery — Bonds
Rule 11362 sets out the specific denominations acceptable when delivering bonds in coupon bearer form, generally in units of $1,000 or combinations of $100 denominations totaling $1,000. It applies the same standardization logic as Rule 11361 to bond delivery specifically.
FINRA Rule 11363: Units of Delivery — Unit Investment Trust Securities
Rule 11363 sets the minimum unit of delivery for unit investment trust securities at a single unit of the trust. It gives this specific security type its own clear delivery standard rather than leaving it to fall under the stock or bond rules by default.
FINRA Rule 11364: Units of Delivery — Certificates of Deposit for Bonds
Rule 11364 sets the units of delivery for certificates of deposit for bonds as the same units already prescribed for bonds under Rule 11362. It closes a gap for this specific instrument type by simply cross-referencing the existing bond standard rather than creating a new one.
FINRA Rule 11365: Trading Securities As "Units" or Bonds "With Stock"
Rule 11365 sets out the delivery standards for securities traded as combined "units," or bonds traded together with an attached stock component. It addresses a hybrid delivery scenario that doesn't fit cleanly into the single-instrument rules covered earlier in this series.
FINRA Rule 11400: Delivery of Securities With Draft Attached
Rule 11400 is the section heading introducing the rules governing delivery of securities accompanied by a draft, a payment instrument attached to the delivery itself rather than settled through a separate payment channel. It closes out this guide's coverage of the Uniform Practice Code's core delivery mechanics.
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