FINRA Promotes Stephanie Dumont to Head Market Regulation and Transparency Services

WASHINGTON—FINRA announced today that it has promoted Stephanie Dumont, formerly Senior Vice President and Director of Capital Markets Policy for FINRA's Office of General Counsel, to the role of Executive Vice President and Head of Market Regulation and Transparency Services, effective immediately. Dumont will report to President and CEO Robert W. Cook and join FINRA’s Management Committee.

“Stephanie is widely respected as an expert in market regulation and a vigorous advocate for the interests of investors in our complex and constantly evolving securities markets,” Cook said. “Our Market Regulation and Transparency Services Department plays a critical role in our mission of investor protection and market integrity, and we look forward to her leadership of this outstanding team.” 

“Effective regulation and transparency are essential to the function of vibrant securities markets and have always been at the core of my work,” Dumont said. “I know firsthand the deep commitment of my colleagues to ensuring the integrity of our markets, so that investors can participate with confidence. I look forward to leading the department and working with Robert and the rest of the senior management team to advance our important mission.”

In her former role, Dumont was responsible for leading the development and interpretation of FINRA rules for market regulation, and providing legal and policy advice to FINRA management and staff. Among other areas, she was responsible for leading the policy and rulemaking legal team addressing trading and customer order handling practices, order audit trails and market structure for equity, options and fixed income securities. Dumont also supported the policy, rulemaking and regulatory reporting functions relating to FINRA's market transparency facilities, including the Trade Reporting Facilities, the OTC Reporting Facility, the Alternative Display Facility and Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE). In addition, she provided legal counsel for FINRA's participation in various National Market System Plans, including the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), the Securities Information Processors and the Limit Up/Limit Down Plans.

Before joining FINRA's Office of General Counsel in 1999, Dumont was Director of Compliance for a broker-dealer compliance consulting firm, starting in 1996. Prior to that position, she conducted investigations for NASD's Market Regulation Department in areas such as insider trading, manipulation, fraud, short selling and options, starting in 1993. 

Dumont earned her B.S. in Finance and Management from the University of Virginia and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She also earned her LL.M., with distinction, in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center.

About the Market Regulation and Transparency Services Department 
Working closely with the SEC and the exchanges, FINRA’s Market Regulation and Transparency Services Department conducts extensive oversight of the securities markets to protect investors and preserve market integrity. In addition to FINRA’s regulatory responsibilities for the entire over-the-counter market, its cross-market program covers 100 percent of U.S. equity market activity and approximately 45 percent of options contract volume. The Department combines examinations of member firms and innovative automated surveillance that assesses billions of market events each day to identify potential manipulation or fraud, and to supervise firms’ compliance with FINRA rules and federal securities laws. The Department also brings transparency to the equity and bond markets to help investors make informed investment decisions and improve supervision by regulators and firms. FINRA operates facilities that create the foundation of the regulatory audit trail in the securities markets and provides investors with timely quote and trade information, including TRACE (the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine), the Trade Reporting Facilities, the Alternative Display Facility and the Over-the-Counter Reporting Facility.

About FINRA 
FINRA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to investor protection and market integrity. It regulates one critical part of the securities industry—brokerage firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA, overseen by the SEC, writes rules, examines for and enforces compliance with FINRA rules and federal securities laws, registers broker-dealer personnel and offers them education and training, and informs 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 a dispute resolution forum for investors and brokerage firms and their registered employees. For more information, visit www.finra.org.