1. When will the Annual Review be available?

The Annual Review period is the first 17 business days of the calendar year. The Annual Review section will be available during that time and until the firm completes it.

2. Where can I find the Annual Review submitted by my firm?

One of the reports available in the FCS Reports section is the Annual Review Report. This report provides the Contacts and their assigned roles at the time of the Annual Review. To view the report, select Annual Review Report, then select the desired Annual Review Period from the dropdown.

3. When I select Contacts from the Navigation panel, I only see FINRA Staff Contacts, where is the FINRA Contact System (FCS)?

You are in the right place however you do not have the proper entitlement to see FCS. If you require access, please contact your Super Account Administrator (SAA) to update your entitlement.

4. I cannot make any changes in FCS; how do I complete the Annual Review?

You only have access to “view” FCS; to edit FCS you need the “write” entitlement to FCS, work with your SAA to update your entitlements, then log back into FINRA Gateway and select Contacts from the Navigation panel. In FCS, you will see the action icons next to each role (person with a plus sign/wheel), in the upper right there will be a link Perform Annual Review. Select that link to start the Annual Review.

5. How do I know I completed the Annual Review?

There are two ways to confirm the Annual Review is complete. First, firms that have completed the annual review will have a link in the top right corner next to Add Contact, that says Annual Review Report (firms that have not completed the link reads Perform Annual Review). Second, in the FCS Reports section, you can request an Annual Review Report for the current Annual Review Period. Look for a status of Submitted at the top of the report. If the report is not available, the Annual Review is not complete.

FCS FAQ

1. How can I access the FINRA Contact System?

The FCS can be accessed from FINRA Gateway by clicking on the Contacts icon in the left navigation panel.

2. What information is included in the Contacts section of FINRA Gateway?

Your firm contacts, associated reports, and FINRA staff contacts are available from within the Contacts section.

3. Were any roles added or removed from FCS?

Yes, in 2023, the Chief Risk Officer role was added to FCS. This role is for the person responsible for overseeing the firm’s risk management, including ensuring the businesses and strategic initiatives align with the firm’s risk appetite and risk management governance framework. This role is located on the Business Practices Roles tab and is optional. Also, in 2022 one role was added, and ten were removed from FCS. The Senior Investor Inquiries role is in the Business Practice roles section and is generally define as the person at the firm responsible for issues related to senior or vulnerable adult investors. The following roles were removed; Corporate Finance, Equity Trading, Head of Retail, Head of Trading International Trading, Research, Sales and Marketing Syndicate, Reg SHO System and Training of RRs.

4. How do I update information in FCS?

Properly entitled users (write permissions) can update contact information the same way they did in the legacy FCS system. To update a contact's last name, a Form U4 amendment must be filed, just as it is required today.

5. How can I see historical FCS information?

All historical information will remain in the FCS Reports. The reports are available in the FCS Reports section of FINRA Gateway Contacts.

6. What type of FCS reports are available?

You can access the following FCS reports: Reports by Role, Name, Snapshots and Annual Review.

7. Where is the Annual Review tab and how can I find information on past annual reviews?

The Annual Review is now an Annual Review report. The Annual Review verification will be available every January and will remain open until the verification is complete. You can access past annual reviews in the FCS Reports section of Contacts.

8. Is fax number required?

The fax number requirement was removed for all roles, except for the Anti-Money Laundering roles. The reason why we still require fax numbers for the AML role is that the AML Rule (3310) requires it. The rule has not yet undergone the retrospective rule review, but when it does, we will request that the fax number be taken out.

9. What entitlements are required for the Contact Section?

Within FINRA Gateway, access to the FCS will remain the same as it is now in Firm Gateway. The FCS Contacts will only display for users who are properly entitled. FINRA Gateway Contacts houses more than just FCS Contacts. For example, FINRA Staff Contacts appear for every BD user who logs into FINRA Gateway.

10. Who can access the FCS in FINRA Gateway Contacts?

All firms registered with FINRA and/or NQX have access to FCS.

11. I am a Funding Portal firm, does anything change for me?

The capability to update the contact information is now available on FINRA Contact System for Funding Portal users. Super Account Administrators (SAAs) and Account Administrators (AAs) of each Funding Portal firm are required to assign READ entitlement for users to view the contacts and WRITE entitlement for users to edit the contacts. 

12. Where can I find out who my point of contact is? Who can see this information? 

FINRA Gateway Contacts displays the Risk Monitoring Analyst (RMA) and Risk Monitoring Director (RMD) to all BD firm users.

13. Where can I find the rest of the information from the Firm Profile section of Firm Gateway? 

You can access the other sections of Firm Profiles within FINRA Gateway's Profile section. There is a small amount of Profiles data not yet migrated to FINRA Gateway. For these cases, you can access Firm Gateway via the Firm Gateway Quick Link.