The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission censured broker-dealer OTC Link LLC and imposed a USD 575,000 civil penalty for failing to establish, maintain and enforce required Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity policies and procedures for its OTC Link alternative trading system. The violations persisted from August 2016 through March 2025 and covered system security, access controls, application vulnerability management, testing and remediation. SEC examinations repeatedly identified policies that were missing, remained in draft form or were not enforced, but OTC Link failed to promptly correct the deficiencies. The SEC found violations of requirements governing systems capacity, integrity, resiliency, availability and security, as well as periodic policy reviews and remediation. Without admitting the findings, OTC Link agreed to the censure and a cease-and-desist order. After retaining third-party compliance consultants in 2024, the firm established additional required policies beginning in March 2025.
2026-09-22U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission censures OTC Link and imposes USD 575,000 penalty for longstanding Regulation SCI failures
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission censured OTC Link LLC and imposed a USD 575,000 penalty for Regulation SCI policy and remediation failures that persisted from August 2016 through March 2025. The broker-dealer repeatedly failed to resolve deficiencies involving system security, access controls and vulnerability management despite multiple SEC examinations.