News Releases & Statements

Veterans who are female, younger, married, divorced or separated, or who have children are faring worse than their veteran peers WASHINGTON — The financial well-being of U.S. military veterans has improved in recent years, outpacing the gains of non-veterans, according to new research by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

Firms Failed to Reasonably Supervise 529 Plan Share-Class Recommendations Made to Customers; Matters Identified Prior to FINRA Initiative Launched in January WASHINGTON — FINRA announced today that Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (Merrill Lynch), Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (RJA), and Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

WASHINGTON – FINRA announced today that it has fined BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and BNP Paribas Prime Brokerage, Inc. (collectively, BNP) $15 million for anti-money laundering (AML) program and supervisory failures involving penny stock deposits and resales, and wire transfers, that spanned four years. As part of the settlement, FINRA also required BNP to certify within 90 days that BNP’s procedures are reasonably designed to achieve compliance in these areas.

Forte and Lawrence Exploited Elderly Client to Generate More Than $9 Million in Commissions in Less Than One Year WASHINGTON—FINRA today announced it has barred Ami Forte and Charles Lawrence of Florida for their respective roles in churning accounts belonging to a 79-year-old customer who suffered from severe cognitive impairment.

WASHINGTON – FINRA today published its 2019 Report on FINRA Examination Findings and Observations. The report reflects key findings and observations identified in recent examinations, and contains effective practices that could help firms improve their compliance and risk management programs.

WASHINGTON – The FINRA Board of Governors has appointed Peter R. Fisher as a new public Governor. Fisher currently teaches at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he is a clinical professor. Fisher’s term on the FINRA Board begins immediately.

WASHINGTON – Many U.S. investors with “alarmingly low” levels of financial knowledge lack confidence in their ability to meet their financial goals, according to new research conducted by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation) and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) at the George Washington University School of Business.

WASHINGTON—FINRA today announced it has made available new resources to assist member firms in their efforts to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) and Form CRS by the rules’ compliance date of June 30, 2020. FINRA is assisting members in a variety of ways including by providing a new Reg BI and Form CRS Checklist – available on FINRA’s Reg BI webpage along with a number of other resources – and by hosting several FINRA Reg BI events in the coming months.

WASHINGTON – FINRA’s Board of Governors met on Sept. 24-26 at FINRA’s offices in New York, where it approved six rule proposals and received several operational updates from FINRA staff.

University of Pennsylvania Professor Recognized for Outstanding Service and Research to Advance Investor Protection and Financial Capability in the U.S. Olivia Mitchell