Guidance

Background

In March 2017, FINRA issued a Special Notice on its engagement programs as part of FINRA360, its comprehensive review of its operations. In response to the Special Notice, FINRA received a number of comments and suggestions regarding the usefulness of some advisory committees, their membership and their effectiveness as a vehicle for dialogue between FINRA and member firms. After carefully reviewing and analyzing the comments, FINRA is taking a number of actions to address the comments and suggestions. 

In June 2009, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 09-31 to remind firms of their sales practice obligations relating to leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs). At the same time, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) issued guidance to the Canadian industry that is substantially similar to our Notice. In July we released a compliance podcast concerning the Notice and some of the issues that it raised.

FINRA has initiated a multi-phased effort to overhaul its registration and disclosure programs, including the Central Registration Depository (CRD) -- the central licensing and registration system that FINRA operates for the U.S. securities industry and its regulators, and that provides the backbone of BrokerCheck. In June 2018, we implemented the first phase of the transformation through a new WebCRD interface that highlights important information or activities requiring the immediate attention of firms, branches and individuals.

The Best Execution Outside-of-the-Inside (BE) report card is a monthly status report detailing the number of transactions reported to a FINRA Facility (i.e., a FINRA Trade Reporting Facility or FINRA's Alternative Display Facility) in which your firm participated that were executed Outside-of-the-Inside market in apparent violation of the Best Execution Rule. If non-compliance with the Best Execution Rule is found to exist, your firm may be found to be in violation of FINRA Rule 5310.

The Frequently Asked Questions below are taken directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS FAQ pages. The below are FINRA’s best attempt to highlight the latest SEC FAQs, but additional FAQs may have been published that are not posted on this page. For the latest FAQs on Reg BI and Form CRS, please visit the SEC’s website.

SEC Frequently Asked Questions on Regulation Best Interest

The following FAQ is provided to facilitate firms' compliance with FINRA Rules 5190 (Notification Requirements for Offering Participants), 6275 (Withdrawal of Quotations) and 6435 (Withdrawal of Quotations in an OTC Equity Security in Compliance with SEC Regulation M). A comprehensive overview of these rules and related guidance is set forth in Regulatory Notice 08-74 and Regulatory Notice 12-19.

Background

In 2018, FINRA and the Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education (CE Council) launched an initiative to evaluate enhancements to the CE Program. The overall goal of the program review is to reflect advances in technology and learning theory while continuing to ensure that registered persons receive timely education on the securities business and the regulatory requirements applicable to their respective functions.

The OATS Compliance Report Card is a monthly status report on the number and percentage of:

On this Page

• Honoraria
• Reimbursable Expenses
• Tax Information

Honoraria

FINRA will pay arbitrators honoraria in accordance with the Codes of Procedure. The following page answers the most commonly asked questions regarding honoraria.

The Daily Total Summary Data and Detail Data Download files for the OATS Compliance Report Card provide underlying totals and detail of the data contained in the monthly summary OATS Compliance Report Card.

The tables below represent the data within the Daily Totals Summary Report Card and the Detail Data Download files.

Summary Definitions and Data Fields

FINRA360 has yielded a number of organizational and operational changes aimed at making FINRA a more efficient, more effective regulator.

Regulatory Obligations

FINRA Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) requires member firms and their associated persons to use reasonable diligence to determine the “essential facts” about every customer and “the authority of each person acting on behalf of such customer.” Regulatory Notice 11-02 (SEC Approves Consolidated FINRA Rules Governing Know-Your-Customer and Suitability Obligations) advised that firms verify the essential facts about a customer “at intervals reasonably cal

The Municipal Primary Offering Disclosure Report displays statistics about transactions your firm effected with customers during the securities’ Primary Offering Disclosure Period. This report is designed to aid firms in monitoring their compliance with Rule G-32(a) customer disclosure requirements, which apply to all broker-dealers selling offered municipal securities.

FINRA recently released a number of Regulatory Notices that support the effort to modernize rules for member firms and associated persons. This webinar is designed to review the comment process, assist firms with how to comment and provide what type of information is helpful to receive in comments. FINRA staff share examples of the impact of comment letters and how they were used.