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Small brokerage firms will no longer be exempted from undertaking annual independent testing of anti-money laundering programs following a rule change approved last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The change in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules brings the self-regulatory organization into compliance with Financial Crime Enforcement Network guidance, according to a letter from FINRA to the SEC. With the change, some broker-dealers will need to hire outside consultants to conduct the testing if they can't identify qualified employees who are independent from the firm's AML effort, according to comment letters sent to the SEC. Under the old...