Early Friday morning, FINRA disclosed that it had submitted on Wednesday and Thursday, four new proposed rule amendments - one of which for immediate effectiveness.  Continue reading for the affected FINRA rules, links to the rule filings, and  brief descriptions of the proposals. C-I will address the rule filings in greater depth in separate postings. FINRA Rule Filing 12-10, (2/8/12). FINRA proposes to amend FINRA Rule 6440, Trading and Quotation Halt in OTC Equity Securities, to clarify that:  (i) FINRA may initiate a trading and quotation halt in an OTC Equity Security as a result of a foreign regulatory halt for news pending;  (ii) FINRA may halt trading and quotation in such OTC Equity Security until FINRA receives notice from the appropriate foreign regulatory authority that it has or intends to resume trading in the security - even if such halt is longer than 10 business days; and,  (iii) FINRA may extend a halt initiated under Rule 6440(a)(2) for an extraordinary event beyond 10 business days if it determines that the basis for the halt still exists. FINRA Rule Filing 12-11, (2/9/12). FINRA proposes to amend FINRA Rule 14107 of the Code of Mediation Procedure to provide the Mediation Director with discretion to determine whether parties to a FINRA mediation may select a mediator who is not on FINRA’s mediator roster. FINRA Rule Filing 12-12, (2/9/12). FINRA proposes to amend FINRA’s Customer and Industry Codes of Arbitration Procedure to raise the limit for simplified arbitration from $25,000 to $50,000. FINRA Rule Filing 12-13, (2/9/12). FINRA proposes for immediate effectiveness to provide a method for compensating FINRA members that may have incurred additional costs due to a system issue of the FINRA/Nasdaq Trade Reporting Facility (TRF) and OTC Reporting Facility (ORF).   The proposal does not change the text of any FINRA rule.