The Director may exercise discretionary authority and make any decision that is consistent with the purposes of the Code to facilitate the appointment of arbitrators and the resolution of arbitrations.

After the Director sends the list(s) generated by the list selection algorithm to the parties, but before the first hearing session begins, the Director may remove an arbitrator for conflict of interest or bias, either upon request of a party or on the Director's own initiative.

Any party may ask an arbitrator to recuse himself or herself from the panel for good cause. Requests for arbitrator recusal are decided by the arbitrator who is the subject of the request.

(a) Before appointing arbitrators to a panel, the Director will notify the arbitrators of the nature of the dispute and the identity of the parties.

(a) If a party is added to an arbitration after the Director sends the lists generated by the list selection algorithm to the parties, but before the ranked lists are due to the Director, the Director will send the lists to the newly added party, and for each arbitrator listed, a disclosure report containing employment history and other background information.

The arbitrator will be a public arbitrator selected from the public chairperson roster, unless the parties agree in writing otherwise.

(a) Claims of $50,000 or Less

If the amount of a claim is $50,000 or less, exclusive of interest and expenses, the panel will consist of one arbitrator and the claim is subject to the simplified arbitration procedures under Rule 12800.

(b) Claims of More Than $50,000 Up To $100,000

FINRA uses a list selection algorithm that generates, on a random basis, lists of arbitrators from FINRA's rosters of arbitrators for the selected hearing location for each proceeding.