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Guidance

We offer guidance to firms in the form of podcasts, webinars, FAQs, reports, and more. Use the toggle below to find guidance by topic, type or date. 

5 A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V
Compliance Tools
What should your firm do after it discovers that customers’ accounts have been compromised?

About FINRA

FINRA has made a number of changes in the area of regulatory policy to improve the policy development process and better ensure that our rules reflect current industry dynamics.


FAQ
Following are FAQs about FINRA’s research conflicts of interest rules.

FAQ
1. What is E-Bill and what can I do in E-Bill? E-Bill is FINRA's financial system that enables entitled users to view accounting details of the firm's Flex-Funding and Renewal accounts, fund the accounts, pay annual renewal assessments, and view and pay FINRA invoices.

2019 Exam Findings Report

Regulatory Obligations

Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1 (Net Capital Rule) requires firms to maintain net capital at specific levels to protect customers and creditors from monetary losses that can occur when firms fail.


Compliance Tools

The Contra Executing Firm 20 Minute Compliance report card is a monthly status report that provides information on transactions in which a firm failed, as the Contra Firm to accept / decline / compare trades within 20 minutes after execution, in apparent violation of FINRA Rules 7230A(b) and/or 7330(b).


Compliance Tools
The CE Regulatory Element Report is published each quarter for any firm that has had at least one representative take a Regulatory Element CE session during the quarter. The report provides information about the firm's performance as well as industry performance during the quarter for comparison.

About FINRA

Background

FINRA promotes the capital-raising process through appropriately tailored rules that are designed to promote transparency and to establish important standards of conduct for the benefit of all market participants, including investors and issuers participating in offerings.


Guidance

To assist firms in complying with SEC Rules regarding financial and operational matters, FINRA has published and will periodically update certain interpretations provided by the staff of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets.


FAQ
Back-to-back scheduling is a feature that allows the scheduling of two appointments for the same day and same test center in one transaction. The following are frequently asked questions related to back-to-back scheduling.

Compliance Tools

The Market Order Timeliness (MOT) Report Card is a monthly status report based upon data reported to OATS detailing the number of customer market orders executed by your firm in NMS securities that were delayed in receiving a full execution in possible violation of both rules regarding full and prompt execution of customer market orders and the Best Execution rule. If non-compliance with these rules is found to exist, your firm may be found to be in violation of FINRA Rules 5310 and 5320.


Arbitration and Mediation

On this Page


Honoraria

FINRA will pay arbitrators honoraria in accordance with the Codes of Procedure. The following page answers the most commonly asked questions regarding honoraria.


Compliance Tools
These monthly reports cover trades of Treasuries, Securitized Products, Agency Bonds, and Corporate Debt that a member firm reported to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE).

About FINRA

Background

An important part of FINRA's work involves providing investors the information and tools they require to make informed decisions about their assets and avoid dealings with bad actors. Several respondents to the Special Notice on Engagement issued in March 2017 provided a range of recommendations related to FINRA's efforts in the area of investor education—including the types of investor education content we develop and our dissemination strategies.


FAQ
1. For purposes of the SEC Large Trader Reporting Rule (SEA Rule 13h-1), what is the format of the LTID and the optional suffix? 2. For purposes of the SEC Large Trader Reporting Rule (SEA Rule 13h-1), how should Unidentified Large Traders be designated? ...

FAQ
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A motion to dismiss is a request made by a party to the arbitrator(s) to remove some or all claims raised by another party filing a claim. Rule 12504 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes and Rule 13504 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes (collectively, the Codes) establish procedures that govern motions to dismiss.


Compliance Tools

The MSRB Markup/Markdown Analysis Report is a monthly report designed to assist firms in their supervision activities by providing transparency into a portion of FINRA's surveillance of fixed income transactions' customer pricing.  

The MSRB Markup/Markdown Analysis Report is built upon logic developed to pair purchase and sale transactions reported to EMMA.  


Guidance
The interpretations offer guidance to assist firms in complying with FINRA Rule 4210.

FAQ
Market Data Frequently Asked Questions

Guidance
The trading activity fee (TAF) is one of the regulatory fees FINRA assesses to recover the costs of supervising and regulating firms.

Compliance Tools
A one-stop source for connecting firms with vendors that specialize in compliance-related offerings

About FINRA

Background

In response to the March 2017 Special Notice on Engagement issued as part of FINRA360, FINRA received a number of comments and suggestions regarding engagement in connection with FINRA's rulemaking process. After carefully reviewing and analyzing the comments, FINRA is taking a number of actions to address the comments and suggestions that it received.

Rulemaking Process


FAQ
The FINRA Institute CRCP Scholarship Program provides small firms-those with less than 150 registered representatives-with a financial grant covering full tuition for the entire program, including room and board for the residential courses at Wharton.

Compliance Tools

The Municipal Continuing Disclosure Report displays statistics about transactions that your firm effected with customers. The report provides relevant information about the availability of official statements, annual financial filings, and event filings on the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access system (EMMA) at the time the securities were sold or purchased. Specifically, the report shows counts of transactions with customers for which official statements and/or current annual financial filings were not available on EMMA at the time the transaction occurred.