The SEC granted accelerated approval to a FINRA proposal, as amended by proposed Amendment No. 1, to amend Rule 12904(j) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes and Rule 13904(j) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes. The final amendments were published in the Federal Register.

The proposal requires that, absent any specification to the contrary, when two opposing parties are ordered to pay damages to one another, the monetary awards shall offset each other, and the party that owes the larger amount shall pay the net difference. FINRA's Amendment No. 1 effectively replaces the word "damages" with "payments" in order to capture those portions of awards attributable to amounts other than damages (e.g., costs and fees).

Comments on the approved amended proposal must be submitted by September 7, 2016.

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