FINRA Releases 2014 Regulatory and Exam Priorities

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today released its 2014 Regulatory and Examination Priorities

which highlights significant risks and issues that could adversely affect investors and market integrity this year.

Susan Axelrod, Executive Vice President, Regulatory Operations, said, "The purpose of this letter is to provide insight to the industry on specific areas of concern for our regulatory programs in the coming year. We encourage firms to use this guidance along with their own analysis to enhance their programs as we will be examining for strong controls and robust compliance efforts in these areas."

"FINRA's examination priorities for 2014 provide the industry with a road map of issues that may be of risk to the investing public," said Richard G. Ketchum, FINRA's Chairman and CEO. "By providing clear and detailed guidance to firms, we hope to not only support firms' compliance efforts but also to alert firms to the issues we have identified as the most salient risks to investors and the integrity of our markets."

FINRA addresses topics related to business conduct, fraud, financial and operational concerns, and market regulation priorities in the letter, and will update its view on risks throughout the year, adjusting its regulatory programs and allocation of resources to address changes in those perceived risks.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, 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 rules, enforcing those 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 firms. For more information, please visit www.finra.org.