December 2024 Board Update

The FINRA Board of Governors held its winter meeting last week—our first with Erik Sirri, Emeritus Professor of Finance at Babson College and a former Director of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, who was just recently appointed to the Board as a public governor.

The Board approved FINRA’s 2025 budget and also approved staff’s plan to publish a Regulatory Notice soliciting public comment on a proposal to replace FINRA’s existing Outside Business Activities and Private Securities Transactions Rules with a single Outside Activities Requirements Rule covering requirements related to broker-dealer employees’ business outside the regular course or scope of their employment with the firm. The Notice will detail the proposed rule, and soliciting comment will allow us to incorporate your perspectives on how to ensure we are optimizing investor protection while addressing the varying business models of member firms. We look forward to receiving and reviewing your feedback.

The Board also appointed new members to the Small Firm Advisory Committee (SFAC) and National Adjudicatory Council (NAC). In the coming weeks, we will publish an Election Notice announcing these newly appointed members, as well as the newly elected members of the SFAC and Regional Committees. The Notice will also include an update on the NAC election.

Staff presented an overview of the 2025 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, which we anticipate publishing in January. This annual resource consolidates information we gather from across our Regulatory Operations, which member firms can then leverage to enhance their compliance programs. Specifically, the report will summarize noteworthy findings from recent examinations and other interactions with firms, outline effective practices we have observed, highlight applicable rules and provide a wealth of additional resources.

More information regarding the Board’s operations, including the membership and responsibilities of its committees, is available on our website.

Sincerely,

Robert W. Cook
FINRA CEO