Reflections from FINRA Annual Conference

Dear Members, 

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting many of you at our Annual Conference—an event attended by more than a thousand individuals from around the country. I enjoyed meeting with members representing every corner of our industry and learning about the opportunities and challenges ahead for investors, the markets, and the brokerage industry. We also heard key perspectives from a range of guest speakers, including important insights from U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Jack Brennan, FINRA Board Chairman and former Vanguard CEO. The rich dialogue throughout the week reflects a shared commitment to protecting investors and ensuring market integrity while promoting healthy and vibrant capital markets. 

For those of you who could not join us last week, I want to highlight a few points that were addressed in greater detail in my remarks at the Conference. 

First, FINRA is changing, and we need your continued input on how we can better achieve our mission. During my ongoing listening tour, it has been inspiring to hear so many of you express such strong interest in helping FINRA be a successful self-regulatory organization. But the feedback—particularly the many potential opportunities for improvement that have been identified—also has underscored the timeliness of stepping back and engaging in a top-to-bottom review of FINRA. That is why we are undertaking a comprehensive self-evaluation and organizational improvement initiative called FINRA360, which I discussed at length in my conference remarks. I encourage you to provide your views on the requests for comment that we have already issued, including notices concerning our engagement efforts and our rules affecting capital formation. A continued dialogue with our members and other stakeholders is a critical part of our efforts to improve how our organization operates, how we develop and implement policy, and how we communicate and engage with our stakeholders.

As we proceed with FINRA360, it is also helpful to hear how FINRA can better facilitate compliance by member firms and their employees. A common request I hear in conversations with many firms I meet—especially smaller firms—is that we provide more tools to help individuals and firms comply with the rules. FINRA is well-positioned to do just that—we can leverage our SRO model to understand the day-to-day work of the industry and develop compliance resources that will ultimately promote investor protection. Along these lines, we were pleased to announce at the conference the launch of our new Compliance Calendar and Vendor Directory—two new offerings that are designed to help firms meet their compliance responsibilities. And we showcased at the Conference a number of other compliance tools that are already available on our website. 

Finally, although the vast majority of registered representatives work hard every day to serve their clients’ interests, FINRA continues to be aggressive in dealing with the small percentage of bad actors whose actions not only harm investors, but also undermine confidence in the industry as a whole. Indeed, during my listening tour many of you have strongly encouraged this effort, and I look forward to sharing more about our programs that address this issue – and what firms can do – in a speech on June 12. Removing bad actors from the industry and protecting the integrity of the markets must be our common objective, and FINRA welcomes your input on ways to better achieve it.

I look forward to continuing our discussion on these and the many other important issues before us. FINRA must continually engage with our various stakeholders—members, investors, and others—to do our work in ever more effective and efficient ways. And FINRA as an organization must be committed to continuous improvement. Our mission of protecting investors and promoting the soundness of America’s capital markets compels no less. 

Best wishes,

Robert