Principal Consultant Biography
Vivian Velazquez is the founder of V&V Consulting Group, LLC. She has over 25 years of securities industry experience in the private and regulatory sectors. She previously held senior compliance positions at global and national financial institutions with billions in assets under management and offices throughout the U.S and Latin America. Vivian played a leading role in the successful launch of the broker-dealer subsidiary for a global European bank, supported major conversions, mergers, business restructurings, Anti-Money-Laundering regulatory look backs and remediation mandates for leading US financial institutions.
She is a former Branch Chief at the SEC’s Southeast Regional Office. In this capacity, she managed the examination program for broker-dealers and transfer agents in the State of Florida, Puerto Rico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. She conducted and supervised examinations of dually registered broker-dealers/investment advisors and hedge funds and had oversight for the NASD (now FINRA), Atlanta office and NYSE examinations in the region. While at the SEC, Vivian worked with law enforcement in AML investigations and the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) in Washington DC in the launch and field testing the AML examination program. She also provided training to foreign regulators as well as SEC and state securities examiners in AML, broker-dealer books and records, accounting, and sales practices. Earlier in her career, she was a Senior Examiner/Field Supervisor for the NASD’s New York and Denver offices.
Vivian also previously worked for a large insurance company in New York and had responsibility for maintaining regulatory compliance for the affiliated subsidiaries including the broker-dealer, investment advisor, proprietary mutual funds, and variable insurance accounts. She managed the department responsible for the preparation and filing of annual and periodic reports for the proprietary mutual funds and separate accounts in accordance with prospectus limitations. She began her career as a registered representative for national wire house broker-dealers.
Vivian is a trained FINRA arbitrator and has provided expert witness and litigation support in depositions and hearings to SEC and NASD enforcement attorneys and in private litigation. Vivian is a FINRA Institute at the Wharton School of Business Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP) program graduate. She obtained a B.B.A in International Finance and Marketing from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She previously held the FINRA Series 24, 7 and 63 licenses. Vivian is a member of various industry groups including the: Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS), Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA), Financial Markets Association (FMA), Florida Securities Dealers Association (FSDA), National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) and the Securities Expert Roundtable (SER). Vivian is fluent in Spanish.