Erozan Kurtas Named Head of FINRA's New Office of Advanced Data Analytics

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that Erozan Kurtas will join the organization as Head of Advanced Data Analytics and Senior Vice President. Mr. Kurtas, who will report to Chairman and CEO Richard Ketchum and Executive Vice President for Regulatory Operations Susan Axelrod, will start at FINRA on February 23. Mr. Kurtas is currently Assistant Director, Quantitative Analytics Unit, Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In this newly created role, Mr. Kurtas will have overall responsibility for enhancing FINRA's data analytics capabilities. Working closely with departments across FINRA, in particular Member Regulation – Sales Practice and Member Regulation – Risk Oversight and Operational Regulation (ROOR), Mr. Kurtas and his team will focus on improving how FINRA analyzes and uses the data it currently gathers from firms. The Office of Advanced Data Analytics will look for opportunities to more effectively refine that data to make FINRA an even more efficient regulator.

"It is critical for regulators to use 21st-century data analytics in order to keep up with 21st-century markets. Building on his pioneering work at the SEC, Erozan and his team will develop cutting-edge data analytics tools to help FINRA better utilize the data we collect in order to fulfill our mission of protecting investors and ensuring the integrity of our markets," said Richard Ketchum.

While at the SEC, Mr. Kurtas led the development of a revolutionary software system called the National Exam Analytics Tool (NEAT), which allowed SEC examiners to analyze systematically large amounts of trading data to detect insider trading, improper allocation of investment opportunities and other misconduct. Prior to joining the SEC in 2010, Mr. Kurtas was a visiting scientist at Arizona State University. He previously held positions at Standard & Poor's, Seagate Technology and Quantum Corporation.

Mr. Kurtas has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. and MSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern University. He has published more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and holds 20 patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on algorithms and statistical techniques.

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, and informing and educating the investing public. In addition, FINRA provides surveillance and other regulatory services for equities and options markets, as well as trade reporting and other industry utilities. FINRA also administers the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and firms. For more information, please visit www.finra.org.