03.17.23
FINRA Exec Says 1,000 Reg BI Exams Are On Tap for 2023
by: Tracey Longo
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is planning to complete at least 1,000 Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) exams of broker dealers by year's end, according to Bill St. Louis, head of FINRA's National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection Program. That will mean that by year end just under one-third of FINRA’s 3,300 member firms will be examined for compliance, said St. Louis at a recent industry conference. While the regulator has been examining for Reg BI violations since the rule went live, officials have chosen almost exclusively to report violations in industry-wide notices. While FINRA examiners were “very understanding” in the beginning, they flagged violations for firms and expected to see course corrections,” Christopher Kelly, FINRA’s acting head of enforcement, said at the conference. A number of the firms that have been warned “still haven’t remedied the [violations] the examiners warned them about, so those will often result in referrals to enforcement,” Kelly added.
Read the full article on Financial Advisor