The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) entered into a services agreement designed to ease reporting burdens and compliance costs for member firms.
Starting Sept. 1, firms that currently file annual reports separately with SIPC and FINRA will file just once, using FINRA’s existing reporting portal. The portal will provide both agencies with the information, enabling the firms to meet the two agencies’ respective reporting requirements with a single filing.
“SIPC is pleased to have completed this arrangement with FINRA to simplify the filing requirement with SIPC for annual reports,” Stephen Harbeck, president and CEO of SIPC, said. “The agreement also complements similar work that FINRA has done with its client exchanges to reduce duplicative reporting by common member firms.”
SIPC currently receives more than 3,500 reports each year.
The new, simplified filing process will also reduce inconsistent or incomplete filing of annual audited financial statements and supplementary reports.
“Streamlining a regulatory filing requirement in a manner that reduces burdens on firms while preserving important investor protections is consistent with the goals of FINRA360, our ongoing review of our regulatory programs and operations. We appreciate the opportunity to work with SIPC on this initiative,” FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook said.