Blogs

Every day, FINRA processes billions of events across U.S. equities, options, and fixed-income markets. This bird’s-eye view of market activity positions us to spot patterns that may signal a technological glitch or compliance gap that, if not swiftly rectified, could disadvantage the firm, compromise market integrity, or harm investors.

FINRA’s Board of Governors in December approved a rebate of 2025 regulatory fees that will be distributed at the end of this month to eligible member firms who paid such fees to FINRA.

Rulemaking is more like Formula 1 than drag racing. F1 drivers must continually adjust their speed on the circuit, slowing down on curves and accelerating on the all-too-rare straightaways. All the while, they look ahead to anticipate obstacles and react to other drivers.

Last year, FINRA announced FINRA Forward, a series of initiatives to further improve our effectiveness and efficiency in pursuing our mission of investor protection and market integrity, while promoting our vibrant capital markets.

As part of FINRA Forward’s rule modernization initiative, FINRA’s Board recently approved updates to FINRA’s requirements for how broker-dealers deliver investor notices, disclosures, and other communications that are mandated by FINRA rules. Once effective, these updates would permit member firms to make e-delivery their default delivery method, while preserving the ability of investors to choose paper delivery.

After 17 years at the FBI, I learned a lot about agents and the important work they do. Now, as the co-lead for FINRA’s enterprise-wide initiative on GenAI, I have seen AI agents emerge as a focal point in the financial services landscape.

The Global Research Analyst Settlement (GRAS) was an important enforcement response to misconduct over 20 years ago by 12 firms that had published biased research to curry favor with investment banking clients during the dot-com era. In addition to fines and other sanctions, the GRAS imposed special undertakings on these firms to address conflicts of interest between their research and investment banking functions.

For more than 25 years, FINRA has offered member firms “report cards” as one type of voluntary compliance support tool. Report cards provide members with secure access to data and analysis that can help them detect potential compliance issues and, in turn, remediate those issues before they become more serious. Member firms generally tell us they view this as a successful component of FINRA’s efforts to help promote compliance.

FINRA’s member firms have long been at the forefront of utilizing innovative technologies to better serve their clients and support vibrant capital markets. Indeed, their capacity to foster and embrace advancements in technology is a key reason why U.S. securities markets are widely considered the envy of the world.

In financial regulation, there is no higher purpose than helping investors participate in our markets with confidence. That participation drives wealth creation and capital formation. And though opinions may differ about the right amount of regulation, everyone acknowledges that effective and efficient rules help build trust for market participants and ultimately benefit FINRA member firms, the markets and the investors they serve.