News Releases & Statements

Firm Made Misrepresentations to Customers and Violated Reg BI as well as FINRA’s Suitability and Supervision Rules WASHINGTON—FINRA announced today that it has expelled broker-dealer SW Financial for multiple violations, including making misrepresentations to customers in its sales of private placement offerings of pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) securities, churning customer accounts, and failing to supervise its representatives.

WASHINGTON— FINRA and NFA recently held a special summit focused on crypto assets and agreed to expand their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to address crypto activities that fall within their respective regulatory mandates.

Options Trading Activity, Demographic Changes for FINRA-Registered Representatives Among New Data Available in this Year’s Snapshot WASHINGTON – FINRA today published the 2023 Industry Snapshot, the annual statistical report on registered representatives, brokerage firms, and market activity that FINRA oversees. This year’s edition adds new data about options trading activity, and certain demographic changes of FINRA-registered representatives.

In the interest of transparency and clarity, FINRA is posting the correspondence between FINRA and Next Bridge Hydrocarbons that began on April 18, 2023.

Board Approves Rule Proposal to Shorten the Securities Settlement Cycle to T+1 Consistent with Recent SEC Rule Changes, and Allocation of 2022 Fine Monies WASHINGTON—FINRA’s Board of Governors met on March 9-10 for the first time in 2023. The board approved a rule proposal to amend FINRA rules to conform to the SEC’s rule changes to shorten the securities settlement cycle and discussed a variety of regulatory topics and technology initiatives.

Firm Also Failed to Maintain Supervisory System, Report Customer Complaints WASHINGTON—FINRA announced today that it has fined Webull Financial LLC $3 million for not exercising reasonable due diligence before it approved customers for options trading; not maintaining a supervisory system reasonably designed to identify and respond to customer complaints; and not reporting certain written customer complaints to FINRA as required.

WASHINGTON—FINRA announced today that Jessica Hopper plans to leave FINRA on February 3, after an 18-year tenure culminating in her leadership of the Department of Enforcement.

Report Reflects New and Evolving Risks, Industry Trends, and Noteworthy Findings WASHINGTON—FINRA published today its 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program to provide member firms with key insights and observations to use in strengthening their compliance programs. The comprehensive report from FINRA’s regulatory operations covers 24 topics — including four new topics — relevant to the evolving securities industry.

Board Approves Rule Proposals and FINRA’s 2023 Budget, Previews 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program WASHINGTON—FINRA’s Board of Governors held its fifth and final meeting of the year on Dec. 14-15. During the meeting, the Board approved two rule proposals and FINRA’s 2023 proposed budget, appointed members to the Small Firm Advisory Committee (SFAC) and National Adjudicatory Council (NAC), and previewed the 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program.

One in Five Investors Started Investing Recently Younger Investors More Comfortable with Risky Investments One Third of Investors Open to Cryptocurrencies WASHINGTON—A substantial proportion of investors joined the market relatively recently, younger investors are more likely to engage in riskier investment behaviors and a third of investors are considering investing in cryptocurrencies.