$FRFS - GIFA name change is complete - Ticker symbol change to "GIFA' to occur any day. TRANSFER AGENT CONFIRMS: "CORPORATION ACTION" in process...
I personally called the stock transfer agent of $FRFS/GIFA, which is PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER and spoke to a very nice, very knowledgeable lady on the phone (they and she are located in Nevada as we discussed the weather, the temperature, the old days when I'd been to Vegas, etc)
http://pacificstocktransfer.com/
She looked up the symbol $FRFS and said emphatically "YES" that a "corporate action" (name change/symbol change) was in process per their computer system.
She said, "WE WOULD KNOW FOR SURE BECAUSE AS THE TRANSFER AGENT, A LOT OF THE PAPERWORK IS ACTUALLY SENT FROM US TO FINRA"...she explained the entire process.
The company GIFA or really their attorney they/he initiates the FINRA "name/symbol" change request. FINRA then turns around and asks for a lot of forms and information to be sent in, much of which is actually processed and sent from the stock transfer agent to FINRA. There can then be a back-n-forth where FINRA asks for more documents or wants a question(s) answered by the GIFA attorney, etc
We know that the SEC EDGAR NAME CHANGE IS DONE and the lady said YES, that would be "normal" as SEC and EDGAR are independent of FINRA and will process what was sent to them. We know this change on SEC EDGAR took place in exactly mid June, about 1 month and one week ago.
I asked the lady at Pacific Stock Transfer, "Would it be unusual or odd for FINRA to take a while, like say TWO MONTHS to get their paperwork done and approved for a symbol/name change". She said, "I of course can not give specifics, but per general experience of doing many, many, many of these- NO, a few months would NOT BE UNUSUAL IN THE SLIGHTEST FOR FINRA's normal time-line".
I asked have you seen it take even longer than that, say longer than 2 months even ? She again said, "YES, some go faster than others, some take a real long time for any number of reasons, it's just the way FINRA is."
FINRA she explained is very secretive and even they as the stock transfer agent only know when FINRA "makes it official" when their stamp of approval arrives in their (Pacific Stock Trasfer's) computer system- even though they, the stock transfer company are the ones doing the paperwork for the most part.
She said the attorney for GIFA and Pacific Stock Transfer will be the first to know and then it hits the FINRA "DAILY LIST" and then gets blasted out to all other parties such as the DTC and brokerage houses (who already have seen a new CUSIP number is assigned, which is part of the corporate action taking place) and that is how it "works" she said.
I researched FINRA and voluntary name/symbol requests and they normally would NOT DISAPPROVE them except under extraordinary circumstances such as "MUST SHOW A GRAVE RISK TO SHAREHOLDERS" (and they lost a SEC appeal in one case I read, where the SEC said you did more harm to shareholders and the company BY NOT APPROVING the symbol and name change).
FINRA is an enigma- they're a quasi govt agency, but really just a private company. They are not God or anything. They're notorious for power trips and games and just being "slow" and delaying things by asking for more paperwork etc as if to just justify their existence. I read several attorney blogs that explained how a symbol/name change only a decade or so ago- it would have been processed in like a week, no questions asked, but then FINRA went on a power trip and started gumming up the works of many companies, brokerages, attorneys, etc. FOR NO GOOD REASON, other than THEY CAN.
SO, as it sits right now according to PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER there is 100% FOR CERTAIN a "PENDING CORPORATION ACTION" filed and "IN PROCESS" for $FRFS/GIFA and it's NOT "late" per their normal experience in dealing with FINRA and they as the stock transfer company continue to file or send back whatever FINRA asks for - and it's still very much on-going and could be APPROVED AND FINAL AT ANY MOMENT on ANY GIVEN DAY as soon as the msg hits their computers.
I spoke to this lady at PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER on Friday, for at least a good 15 minutes.....
I personally called the stock transfer agent of $FRFS/GIFA, which is PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER and spoke to a very nice, very knowledgeable lady on the phone (they and she are located in Nevada as we discussed the weather, the temperature, the old days when I'd been to Vegas, etc)
http://pacificstocktransfer.com/
She looked up the symbol $FRFS and said emphatically "YES" that a "corporate action" (name change/symbol change) was in process per their computer system.
She said, "WE WOULD KNOW FOR SURE BECAUSE AS THE TRANSFER AGENT, A LOT OF THE PAPERWORK IS ACTUALLY SENT FROM US TO FINRA"...she explained the entire process.
The company GIFA or really their attorney they/he initiates the FINRA "name/symbol" change request. FINRA then turns around and asks for a lot of forms and information to be sent in, much of which is actually processed and sent from the stock transfer agent to FINRA. There can then be a back-n-forth where FINRA asks for more documents or wants a question(s) answered by the GIFA attorney, etc
We know that the SEC EDGAR NAME CHANGE IS DONE and the lady said YES, that would be "normal" as SEC and EDGAR are independent of FINRA and will process what was sent to them. We know this change on SEC EDGAR took place in exactly mid June, about 1 month and one week ago.
I asked the lady at Pacific Stock Transfer, "Would it be unusual or odd for FINRA to take a while, like say TWO MONTHS to get their paperwork done and approved for a symbol/name change". She said, "I of course can not give specifics, but per general experience of doing many, many, many of these- NO, a few months would NOT BE UNUSUAL IN THE SLIGHTEST FOR FINRA's normal time-line".
I asked have you seen it take even longer than that, say longer than 2 months even ? She again said, "YES, some go faster than others, some take a real long time for any number of reasons, it's just the way FINRA is."
FINRA she explained is very secretive and even they as the stock transfer agent only know when FINRA "makes it official" when their stamp of approval arrives in their (Pacific Stock Trasfer's) computer system- even though they, the stock transfer company are the ones doing the paperwork for the most part.
She said the attorney for GIFA and Pacific Stock Transfer will be the first to know and then it hits the FINRA "DAILY LIST" and then gets blasted out to all other parties such as the DTC and brokerage houses (who already have seen a new CUSIP number is assigned, which is part of the corporate action taking place) and that is how it "works" she said.
I researched FINRA and voluntary name/symbol requests and they normally would NOT DISAPPROVE them except under extraordinary circumstances such as "MUST SHOW A GRAVE RISK TO SHAREHOLDERS" (and they lost a SEC appeal in one case I read, where the SEC said you did more harm to shareholders and the company BY NOT APPROVING the symbol and name change).
FINRA is an enigma- they're a quasi govt agency, but really just a private company. They are not God or anything. They're notorious for power trips and games and just being "slow" and delaying things by asking for more paperwork etc as if to just justify their existence. I read several attorney blogs that explained how a symbol/name change only a decade or so ago- it would have been processed in like a week, no questions asked, but then FINRA went on a power trip and started gumming up the works of many companies, brokerages, attorneys, etc. FOR NO GOOD REASON, other than THEY CAN.
SO, as it sits right now according to PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER there is 100% FOR CERTAIN a "PENDING CORPORATION ACTION" filed and "IN PROCESS" for $FRFS/GIFA and it's NOT "late" per their normal experience in dealing with FINRA and they as the stock transfer company continue to file or send back whatever FINRA asks for - and it's still very much on-going and could be APPROVED AND FINAL AT ANY MOMENT on ANY GIVEN DAY as soon as the msg hits their computers.
I spoke to this lady at PACIFIC STOCK TRANSFER on Friday, for at least a good 15 minutes.....
1
