What is a FINRA Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC)? - Transcript
A FINRA AWC is an acceptance of certain stipulated facts a waiver of a hearing and a consent to a penalty essentially it is a settlement with finra and as with the SEC with finra sometimes you’re allowed to neither admit nor deny the allegations in the settlement meaning you don’t have to say I admit these things happened and then that would be used in other proceedings but you can’t deny it so you can’t say that never happened unless it is in a perceiving a litigation let’s say with a customer you can deny it you just can’t deny it when it comes to the SEC or to finra and AWC is essentially the way that finra and similarly the SEC structure settlements of regulatory matters that have been investigated and are moving into the complaint phase or have already moved into the complaint phase.