March 2023 Board Meeting

FINRA’s Board of Governors met on March 9 and 10, and it approved a proposal to shorten the securities settlement cycle from two business days after the trade date (T+2) to one (T+1) and approved the allocation of 2022 fine monies to various capital initiatives.

March 15, 2023

The FINRA Board of Governors held its first meeting of the year last week, and I am pleased to share some updates from our discussions.

The board approved a rule proposal to amend FINRA rules to conform to the SEC’s recent rule changes to shorten the securities settlement cycle—details of which are listed below—and discussed a retrospective review of our recently completed Digital Experience Transformation (DXT). The multi-year DXT project integrated and simplified brokerage firms’ digital interactions with FINRA, facilitating more innovative, efficient and effective compliance programs.

As is customary for the first meeting of the year, the board approved the allocation of prior-year fine monies to various capital initiatives in accordance with FINRA’s Financial Guiding Principles. Fines are collected and accounted for separately from monies designated in our operating budget, and their use is subject to special governance procedures, use restrictions and transparency requirements. As part of our broader approach to enhancing our financial transparency, we will release details about the allocations in an upcoming Report on the Use of 2022 Fine Monies.

Our next meeting is scheduled for May 17-18, 2023. More information regarding the Board's operations, including the membership and responsibilities of its committees, is available at www.finra.org/governance. 

Sincerely,

Robert W. Cook
President and CEO

Rulemaking Item Approved at the March 2023 Board Meeting

• Proposal to Shorten the Securities Settlement Cycle to T+1, Consistent With Recent SEC Rule Changes – The proposal would amend FINRA’s rules to support a shortened settlement cycle from two business days after the trade date (T+2) to one (T+1) for U.S. securities transactions in the secondary markets, consistent with the rule changes and implementation cycle adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, other self-regulatory organizations and market participants.

Visit FINRA’s website for more information about FINRA’s rulemaking process.