2026 Annual Conference Agenda

*In-Person Event: Anti-Money Laundering Program Fundamentals Workshop: Building Strong Foundations (pre-registration required)

Strengthen your firm's anti-money laundering program (AML) by examining core components that support effective financial crime prevention and mitigation. This interactive workshop explores essential AML compliance pillars, including customer identification program, beneficial ownership requirements, risk-based due diligence, suspicious activity detection, monitoring and reporting, independent testing and training. Through guided exercises and real-world scenarios, learn how to build and maintain an AML program that adapts to evolving threats. Participants leave with practical tools and frameworks for assessing and strengthening their AML programs.

*In-Person Event: Senior Investor Protection Workshop: Detecting and Responding to Financial Exploitation (pre-registration required)

Financial exploitation of vulnerable adults represents an ongoing threat requiring vigilant detection and coordinated response. This interactive workshop uses realistic case studies to explore how firms identify, prevent, and respond to senior exploitation attempts. Through facilitated discussions of current elder fraud trends, participants will develop practical approaches to leverage trusted contact programs, implement hold procedures, and coordinate with external agencies to strengthen investor protection. 

New Attendee Reception

Registration & Information

Registration & Information

*In-Person Event: Cyber Incident Response Workshop: Cross-Functional Coordination in Action (pre-registration required)

Cybersecurity incidents rarely affect just one risk area. This interactive workshop uses a realistic ransomware tabletop exercise to explore how a single cyber event creates cascading obligations that impact firm professionals across compliance, financial crimes,  legal and investor protection teams. Through facilitated breakout sessions, participants will navigate account takeover scenarios and extortion risks to identify communication gaps and develop practical cross-functional response protocols.

Continental breakfast

Plenary Session – Welcome Remarks and TBD Session

Plenary Session – The AI Revolution: Where Innovation Meets Regulation 

Hear perspectives from technologists, compliance leaders and regulators address artificial intelligence's most pressing challenges from their distinct vantage points. This session explores how the industry balances cutting-edge innovation with compliance and risk considerations. Walk away understanding how to harness AI's power while staying ahead of regulatory expectations.

Break

Concurrent Sessions:

Compliant Communication in the Digital Age

Navigate the complex challenge of capturing and retaining business communications across multiple platforms in today's digital environment. This session addresses books and records compliance when associated persons use personal email, text messages and social media for business purposes. Discover effective practices for monitoring off-channel communications, implementing retention policies and leveraging technology solutions to meet regulatory requirements.

Fighting Financial Crime: Detection, Response and Industry Defense

Financial criminals are more sophisticated than ever—leveraging social media, AI-enabled fraud and complex schemes to exploit markets and target clients. This session exposes the latest threats and the detection strategies, AML program essentials and cross-functional coordination that enable firms to identify suspicious patterns early and respond effectively. Discover surveillance enhancements, red flag indicators and intelligence resources that strengthen your defensive capabilities.

Market Structure in Motion: Modern Markets, Timeless Principles

Marketplace and regulatory developments are reshaping how firms operate. This session explores FINRA’s focus on extended hours trading, market transparency, crypto asset securities and other market structure topics—examining how longstanding regulatory principles apply in emerging areas. Understand best execution obligations in an evolving market structure and learn how member firms adapt their compliance programs to keep pace with emerging risks.

New Attendee Lunch (pre-registration required) 

General Lunch

Dessert With Exhibitors

Concurrent Sessions:

From Pilot to Production: AI Adoption in Member Firms

Hear directly from member firms deploying GenAI tools in their operations. This session features real-world use cases from chatbots to workflow automation, including the implementation considerations, hallucination mitigation and governance approaches member firms use. Discover practical compliance approaches and get answers to your most pressing AI implementation questions.

Keeping Up with FINRA’s Rule Modernization Initiative

Explore how FINRA is amending requirements to align with today's market realities and modern business practices. This panel will provide a comprehensive update on key regulatory developments designed to adapt rules to the modern workplace while fostering capital formation and maintaining protections for investors.  Topics include gift limit reforms, e-delivery changes, updated day trading requirements, communications rule proposals, modernizing research regulation, corporate financing amendments and more.  Whether you're navigating compliance challenges or seeking to understand the trajectory of FINRA's regulatory policy agenda, this session provides valuable insights into FINRA’s rule modernization efforts.

The New Investor: Social Media, Finfluencers and AI

This session reveals findings from the FINRA Foundation's 2025 National Financial Capability Study on investor use of social media influencers and AI-powered tools for investment guidance. Discover the compliance challenges these trends create and learn the controls and supervisory approaches firms implement to address risks while meeting customers in their preferred channels.

Break

Concurrent Sessions: 

Cyber Defense in an Evolving Threat Environment

Member firms face an increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threat landscape that requires robust defenses and proactive planning. This session exposes the latest attack vectors targeting financial firms and addresses critical vendor security considerations. Learn the response simulations, monitoring protocols and cross-team coordination strategies that member firms use to strengthen cyber resilience and meet Regulation S-P compliance obligations. 

Maximizing FINRA Tools & Resources for Compliance Efficiency

Hear the latest on FINRA's expanding ecosystem of compliance tools. This session explores how FINRA Forward is enhancing Gateway functionality, Report Center capabilities and data accessibility. Learn practical strategies for automating workflows, integrating multiple FINRA tools and leveraging data-driven insights to strengthen your compliance infrastructure. 

Inside the Membership Application Process

This session examines the application journey for both new member firms and existing firms seeking business expansion approvals, exploring common challenges and the approaches that lead to successful outcomes. Gain insight into effective preparation strategies, understand key evaluation considerations and learn how to leverage available resources throughout the process.

Break

Plenary Session – The Regulatory Partnership: FINRA and SEC in Dialogue

FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook and SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins discuss how their regulatory relationship shapes your daily operations and compliance obligations. This session explores SEC priorities, as well as how FINRA and the SEC cooperate to foster transparent and efficient examinations, market oversight, and rulemaking, under SEC oversight. Hear directly from top regulators about their perspectives and gain clarity on what member firms need to know about the evolving regulatory landscape.

Opening Night Reception

FINRA 5K (pre-registration required)

Registration & Information

Breakfast

Plenary Session - From the Boardroom: Board Leadership and Strategic Direction

Join FINRA Board Chair Scott Curtis and President and CEO Robert Cook for a conversation on Board perspectives and strategic direction. Moderated by Marcia Asquith, Executive Vice President for Board and External Relations, this session explores key trends and developments shaping FINRA's regulatory and operational landscape and the evolving role of member firms within the SRO framework. Hear Board Chair Curtis share his one-year perspective offering an industry viewpoint on governance and the regulatory landscape.

Break

Concurrent Sessions: 

Examination Preparation: Practical Approaches and Current Trends

Gain insight into FINRA's evolving examination program and what member firms can expect during regulatory reviews. This session maps industry trends to specific compliance areas, explains documentation expectations and explores program enhancements including thematic review teams and compliance testing initiatives. Learn how member firms prepare using self-assessment processes, understand examination efficiency gains and discover compliance considerations specific to different business models.

Vigilance in Action: Protecting Senior Investors

Financial exploitation of seniors presents significant challenges, and member firms serve as a critical line of defense for vulnerable clients. This session examines the early warning signs, hold procedures and trusted contact protocols that support timely detection and intervention. Learn effective practices for educating clients and their families, discover coordination strategies with authorities and explore communication approaches that member firms use to address potential exploitation situations.

Liquidity Matters: Building Financial Resilience

Develop strong liquidity risk management capabilities that support sustainable broker-dealer operations amid evolving regulatory requirements including the daily reserve formula. This session examines governance frameworks, stress testing methodologies and early warning systems. Explore practical approaches to reserve calculations, stress testing scenario design and securities lending snapshot reporting that firms use to manage liquidity risk.

Networking Break

Concurrent Sessions:

Crypto, Tokenization and Blockchain: Compliance in the Digital Asset Era

Navigate the evolving digital asset regulatory landscape from stablecoins and tokenization to exchange-traded products. This session addresses requirements for crypto recommendations, tokenized asset custody considerations and AML program expectations for digital asset transactions. Learn about the due diligence approaches and risk assessment frameworks that member firms use when evaluating and recommending crypto offerings, tokenization initiatives and blockchain-based investment opportunities.

Due Diligence Essentials for Private Placements and Public Offerings

Effective due diligence for private placements and public offerings protects both clients and your firm while supporting sound investment recommendations. This session examines investigation techniques, conflict identification and documentation practices that demonstrate reasonable investigation and meet care obligations. Learn the critical questions, risk assessment approaches, regulatory requirements and due diligence frameworks that member firms use when evaluating diverse offering types.

Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS in Practice

Join this session to explore how member firms navigate Regulation Best Interest's (RegBI) complex care, conflicts, disclosure and compliance obligations in real-world scenarios. This session examines the documentation practices, conflict management strategies and due diligence approaches member firms use to address requirements. Learn practical insights from firms that have developed their approaches to complying with Reg BI while maintaining accurate Form CRS disclosures.

Lunch With the Regional Committees (pre-registration required) 

Trending Topics Networking and General Lunch

Dessert With Exhibitors

Concurrent Sessions:

Modernizing Supervision for Today’s Workforce

The office landscape has fundamentally changed, and supervision frameworks have evolved alongside it—residential supervisory locations, distributed teams and remote inspections present new considerations for member firms. This session addresses practical aspects of hybrid supervision, from inspection pilot program updates to approaches member firms use to meet regulatory obligations. Hear from industry peers about implementation experiences and effective supervisory frameworks in today's work environment.

Building Resilient Technology Stacks Through Vendor Management

Technology vendors can represent substantial risk concentrations for firms. Service dependencies, security vulnerabilities and outages create interconnected risks requiring careful ecosystem management. This session explores vendor due diligence, ongoing monitoring and incident response practices, including real-world examples of balancing concentration risk with operational benefits. Discover effective governance approaches, understand coordination with FINRA Risk Monitoring during vendor incidents and gain practical insights for your assessments.

Supervising Complex Products in Today's Market

Complex products from variable annuities to crypto-linked investments require sophisticated supervisory approaches. This session examines regulatory expectations for exchange analysis, concentration monitoring and documentation requirements while exploring how member firms build effective supervision programs. Discover the training strategies, review frameworks and supervisory tools that member firms use to support compliant complex product recommendations and strengthen oversight.

Networking Break

Concurrent Sessions:

Enforcement Insights: Fair Process and Compliance Effective Practices

Gain insights into FINRA's enhanced Enforcement program and its focus on fairness and transparency. This session reveals key program enhancements designed to strengthen transparency and consistency while exploring common regulatory trends and their root causes. Learn how member firms translate enforcement cases into proactive compliance improvements and understand how FINRA Forward is reshaping enforcement to balance accountability with fair process while maintaining robust investor protection.

Understanding Firm Operations: FINRA's Engagement Approach to Compliance and Risk

Discover how FINRA engages with member firms to understand business models, identify emerging risks and provide proactive support. This session reveals relationship-building approaches and success stories including Rapid Remediation expansion that helps firms address issues quickly. Learn about escalation protocols, available resources and how two-way dialogue strengthens partnerships across FINRA functions to support your risk management capabilities.

Session TBD

Break

Concurrent Sessions:

OBA and PST Modernization: Navigating Rule Changes

Navigate the evolving regulatory landscape for outside business activities (OBAs) and private securities transactions (PSTs). This session addresses the proposed consolidation of Rules 3270 and 3280 into Rule 3290, clarifies PST compensation requirements and explores robust approval processes and documentation practices. Learn the supervisory controls, technology solutions and transition planning approaches that member firms use to maintain compliance while the rule modernization process unfolds.

Navigating the Registration and Disclosure Process

Registration accuracy through U4/U5 filings and timely Rule 4530 disclosure reporting are foundational to regulatory compliance. This session addresses key considerations including employee classification impacts, reporting timing requirements and disclosure categorization. Learn the supervisory review procedures, quality control measures, and coordination strategies that help firms maintain accurate records and meet regulatory obligations effectively.  

Balancing the Books: Financial Compliance Requirements and Effective Practices

Financial compliance encompasses multiple requirements, from XBRL reporting to the reserve formula daily computation. This session covers net capital calculations, customer and PAB reserve compliance, FOCUS reporting accuracy and fully paid securities lending program requirements that support financial strength. Explore the automation approaches, reconciliation procedures and audit coordination strategies that member firms use to maintain strong financial compliance programs and meet evolving regulatory expectations.

Networking Reception

Registration & Information

Breakfast

Plenary Session – Defending Markets Together: Intelligence Sharing and Coordinated Threat Response

Discover the intelligence network connecting FINRA, member firms and law enforcement in the fight against sophisticated fraud schemes. This session exposes real attacks—from small cap manipulation to GenAI-enabled scams—and reveals how shared intelligence helps detect and disrupt them. Learn how FINRA's initiative provides early warning of threats and what indicators should trigger your response protocols.

Break

Plenary Session – Compliance & Legal Trends 

Join industry leaders as they discuss trends and key focus areas shaping the compliance environment today. Panelists share insights on how regulatory, business and technology changes affect member firm compliance programs. Hear how firms address evolving obligations and respond to current challenges in this dynamic regulatory landscape.

Break

Plenary Session – Ask FINRA Senior Leaders

Engage directly with FINRA's executive leadership team in this interactive Q&A session as they discuss FINRA's integrated approach to regulation and how recent organizational realignments strengthen collaboration across the organization. Hear how FINRA is evolving to better serve the industry and get answers to your most pressing questions.

Conference Adjourns