Securities Firms Elect Seven Industry Governors to FINRA Board of Governors; Approve Seven Proxy Proposals

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced the results of voting at its 2010 Annual Meeting. In accordance with FINRA By-Laws, firms elected seven Governors of which three will represent large firms, three will represent small firms and one will represent mid-sized firms. Results also indicate that firms supported seven non-binding proxy proposals.

FINRA conducted the 2010 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, on August 12th. About 50 percent of the 4,698 FINRA member firms eligible to vote participated in the election.

New Governors Elected

At the meeting, securities firms elected seven Governors to FINRA's 22-member Board, which is staggered into three classes:

• First Class: Richard F. Brueckner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pershing LLC and Ken Norensberg, President and Chief Executive Officer, Four Points Capital Partners LLC were elected to one-year terms representing large and small firms, respectively;
  
• Second Class: Seth H. Waugh, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Americas, W. Dennis Ferguson, Executive Vice President and Director of Clearing, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. and Joel R. Blumenschein, President, Freedom Investors Corp. were elected to serve two-year terms and represent large, mid-size and small firms, respectively; and
  
• Third Class: James D. Weddle, Managing Partner, Edward Jones and Jed Bandes, President and COO, Mutual Trust Company of America Securities were elected to three-year terms, representing large and small firms, respectively.

The newly elected Governors begin their terms immediately. Fourteen individuals were appointed to the Board, including 11 public members.

"I want to congratulate the newly-elected Governors," said FINRA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Ketchum. "I look forward to working together to carry out FINRA's important mission of investor protection and market regulation. On the heels of the financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, the FINRA Board has a critical role to play in leading the organization going forward."

Member Firm Proposals

Firms also approved seven member-submitted proxy proposals regarding:

• Disclosure of officer compensation;
  
• The commission of an independent study related to Bernard L. Madoff Securities;
  
• FINRA's investment policies, practices and transactions;
  
• Public access to transcripts of Board of Governors meetings;
  
• "Say on Pay;"
  
• Creation of an independent, private-sector Inspector General; and
  
• Disclosure of certain IRS correspondence.

Under FINRA's By-Laws, member-submitted proxy proposals are non-binding.

The following is a statement from the FINRA Board of Governors on the proxy proposals:

"The Board of Governors continually reviews FINRA's policies and practices in order to ensure they support its mission to protect investors and the integrity of our markets. The Board will carefully review each of the proxy proposals beginning at its next meeting."

About the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business – from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms, writing and enforcing rules and the federal securities laws, informing and educating the investing public, providing trade reporting and other industry utilities, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information, please visit www.finra.org.