The board of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) approved several new rules at its meeting last month in New York.
Among the new rules, the board approved an amendment to provide payment for all members of a hearing panel. Currently, only panelists in extended hearings are paid—because of the length of these hearings. Also, the board approved an amendment to the Codes of Arbitration Procedure to create a roster of arbitrators with enhanced training and experience from which a panel would be selected to decide a request to expunge customer dispute information. Further, the FINRA board passed an amendment to enhance requirements for inter-dealer quotation systems that display quotes in unlisted equity securities. The board also signed off on amendments to permit FINRA to publish aggregated volume information on U.S. Treasury Securities, in accord with the recommendation of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
All of the amendments now move to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval.
Pete Driscoll, director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), and Kevin Goodman, associate director of OCIE’s FINRA and Securities Industry Oversight (FSIO) group, were in attendance at the meeting to discuss these and other issues.
“The SEC’s oversight of FINRA is critical to our effectiveness as a self-regulatory organization, and we continue to work closely regarding our respective examination activities,” FINRA CEO Robert Cook said. “We appreciate that Pete and Kevin could join us to continue the discussion around our ongoing interactions with the Commission.”