As part of its settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC has agreed to pay a $900,000 fine.。

From May 2017 to April 2022, Fidelity did not conduct reasonable due diligence before approving customers to trade options。During this period, the company uses an automated electronic system to screen customers' online options trading applications, which are reviewed by the head of the company to approve / disapprove customer accounts for options trading.。

The Company's system for reviewing applications for options trading is flawed, resulting in customers who do not meet the Company's eligibility criteria or customers who have filed successive applications but have materially different information about their financial and / or investment experience being approved for options trading, triggering an alert that the level of options trading sought by the customer is inappropriate for them。

As a result, the company violated Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rules 3110, 2360 and 2010.。

During the relevant period, Fidelity requires all clients applying for options trading to have at least one year of investment experience, while Fidelity's policy only considers clients' investment experience after they have reached the age of 18.。Therefore, any client under the age of 19 who applies for options trading does not meet the one-year investment experience required by Fidelity。

Nonetheless, until February 2021, Fidelity's automated system will submit applications to supervisors for batch review based on customers' statements that they have at least one year of investment experience-even if the customer's age is less than 19。

In addition, before April 2022, Fidelity's automatic system did not consider the customer's previous option application to determine whether it contained information that was significantly different from the information recently provided by the customer。

Fidelity's principal review process for option applications is also flawed。The primary examiner does not need to consider whether the customer has submitted multiple applications。Fidelity's system also does not require the information provided by the customer in the most recent option application to be compared with the information previously stated to the company by the customer.。

Starting in February 2021 and continuing through April 2022, Fidelity proactively made a number of improvements to its options trading client approval system, including implementing automatic age checks in its online application screening process to ensure that customers' investment experience is consistent with their age; limiting the frequency of customers submitting options trading authorization applications within a specific time period; requiring and reminding customers to prove that the information submitted in the options application is accurate; and Enhancing the verification process for customers whose financial or investment experience has。

The company accepts censure in addition to fines。