FINRA Unscripted

Gen X is often called the Forgotten Generation given how often they’re overlooked in favor of conversation around boomers, millennials or now even Gen Z. But not today.  On this episode, Gen X is the one in the spotlight as we sit down Gary Mottola, research director with the FINRA Foundation, Ritta McLaughlin, director of community outreach with FINRA’s Investor Education team, and Jeremy Ko, the...

Why do we engage with scammers? What makes one person more likely to engage than the next? Of those that engage, what makes someone more likely to lose money? These are important questions to ask – and find the answers to – both as consumers and as an industry with an interest in disrupting the cycle of financial fraud.  On this episode, we hear from moderator Emma Fletcher, a senior data research...

The number of highly sophisticated crypto scams is growing, with Americans losing an estimated $5.6 billion to crypto-related scams in 2023, according to the FBI, a 45 percent jump from the prior year. And often crypto fraud is tied in with romance scams, with criminals targeting victims through texts, dating sites, social media, networking channels or other apps. While we all like to think we wou...

Last week, FINRA CEO Robert Cook spoke to an audience of regulators, academics, law enforcement agencies, advocacy groups and financial firms at a conference hosted by the FINRA Foundation to underscore the importance of working together to disrupt the cycle of fraud.  He highlighted specific areas for further coordination and announced that FINRA will reach out operators of existing regulatory da...

FINRA’s Examinations team carries out one of FINRA’s core functions in the examination of FINRA member firms. In an effort to continuously improve the program, the team has undertaken changes to create efficiencies before, during and after the exam process.  On this episode, Michael Solomon, executive vice president of Examinations and the Membership Application Program, Tom Mellett and John Marti...

FINRA’s Membership Application Program (MAP) team serves as the first point of contact for firms looking to enter the broker-dealer industry. It works both to protect investors by ensuring would-be member firms meet FINRA standards of admission, and to help new and existing firms grow and evolve, ensuring a vibrant market for all. On this episode, Cindy Foster, Vice President of MAP, joins us to s...

Last summer, we introduced listeners to FINRA’ Crypto Hub and enterprise-wide strategy for keeping up with the evolving crypto asset regulatory landscape. A year later, this remains an important area of focus for investors, the industry and FINRA.  On this episode, Jamie Udinson, senior director of the Cyber and Analytics Unit, Michael Yuan, a director with FINRA’s Risk Monitoring program, and Jas...

FINRA's Financial Intelligence Unit acts as a nerve center for information on emerging threats impacting the financial industry with the aim of providing actionable intelligence to firms, other regulators and law-enforcement to keep investors safe.  On this episode, Blake Snyder, senior director of FIU, joins us to share how the group has grown and matured over the last few years and how they are...

Financial social media influencers—or finfluencers—are growing in popularity as a cheap way to reach a new generation of investors. But using these individuals to promote a firm its products or services comes with risks, as revealed by the results of a recent targeted review of FINRA member firm practices in the space.  On this episode, Ira Gluck, senior director of Advertising Regulation, and Mel...

In late May, certain amendments to FINRA's margin rule, Rule 4210, went into effect to address a significant source of potential systemic risk and risk to FINRA member firms. The amendments introduced specific margin requirements related to covered agency transactions.  On this episode, we talk to David Aman, senior advisor, and James Barry, director of Credit Regulation, both with FINRA's Office...

Protecting investors from harm is a top FINRA priority. And when it comes to specific individuals who may pose a risk, FINRA's High Risk Representative (HRR) Program is on the case.  On this episode, Brooks Brown, Senior Director, and Eric Hebert and John Salerno, Investigative Directors, from the HRR unit join us to explain how they identify and monitor individuals who pose an elevated risk of mi...

Every day, FINRA's Insider Trading Detection Program uses sophisticated technology and analytics to monitor 100% of trading in stocks, options and bonds for potentially suspicious activity around material news events, resulting in hundreds of referrals to the SEC and law enforcement every year.  On this episode, we hear from Sam Draddy, a Senior Vice President of the Market Abuse Unit within FINRA...

Senior investor protection has long been a priority for FINRA, and the Vulnerable Adults and Seniors Team (VAST) is at the forefront of FINRA's efforts in this space.  On this episode, we hear from Brooke Hickman, Director of the Vulnerable Adults and Seniors Investigative Team, Mike Paskin, a manager with VAST Investigations, and Liz Yoka, a manager of the VAST Intake team, to hear how the groups...

On May 28th, U.S. markets are moving to a one-day settlement cycle, familiarly known as T+1. This move, which returns the settlement time frame back to a point at which it last stood a century ago, will have wide ranging impacts for firms, investors and regulators.  On this episode, we hear from James Barry, Director of Credit Regulation with FINRA's Office of Financial and Operational Risk Policy...

These days, it's not a matter of if, but when, when it comes to cybersecurity incidents, which is why it's essential for all firms to ensure they're prepared for the inevitable.  On this episode, we're catching up with Bryan Smith, the new senior vice president of FINRA’s Complex Investigations and Intelligence (CII) team and Brita Bayatmakou, vice president of the Cyber and Analytics Unit within...

U.S. financial markets today are not what they were ten years ago, five years ago, or even just a couple of years ago. Over the years, FINRA's Market Regulation and Transparency Services (MRTS) team successfully grew and evolved to meet the changing demands of the markets they oversaw. But recently, the group took time to ask, how would we build this team if we were starting from scratch? And the...

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) are taking the world by storm, presenting numerous opportunities to create business efficiencies. While the new technologies offer many potential benefits to firms, regulators and investors, they also introduce unique risks.  On this episode, we hear from Brad Ahrens, senior vice president of Advanced Analytics, Andrew McElduf...

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation has released a new report, Investors of Color in the United States, examining the behavior and attitudes of investors of color based on data from the FINRA Foundation's National Financial Capability Study coupled with a series of focus groups conducted with young Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Asian American/Pacific Islander investors.  The repo...

FINRA Enforcement works tirelessly on the front lines of investor protection, whether looking into cases of fraud or ways that bad actors try to manipulate the markets. This tremendous undertaking demands steadfast leadership.  On this episode, we meet Bill St. Louis, the former head of FINRA’s National Cause and Financial Crimes Detection Program and FINRA's new Executive Vice President and Head...

FINRA recently wrapped up a targeted review of the practices of certain member firms when it comes to communicating with retail investors regarding crypto products and services. On this episode, Ira Gluck, Senior Director, Advertising Regulation at FINRA, joins us to share the results of that crypto asset communications sweep that began in November 2022. Resources mentioned in this episode: Advert...

As a self-regulatory organization, information sharing is key to FINRA's pursuit of its mission of investor protection and market integrity, and no single resource is a better example of that than FINRA's Annual Regulatory Oversight Report.  On this episode, Ornella Bergeron, Senior Vice President of Risk Monitoring, Omer Meisel, Executive Vice President of the National Cause and Financial Crimes...

In this third and final episode in our series covering FINRA's ongoing crypto asset regulatory work, we hear from FINRA's Blockchain Lab, which serves as a central point within FINRA for the development of blockchain-related regulatory initiatives. Michael Oh, Senior Director of the Blockchain Lab, Brian Huerbsch, a Senior Blockchain Data Analyst, and Jason Foye, Senior Director and head of FINRA'...

As the crypto asset space has grown, FINRA has evolved its oversight of the crypto asset activities of FINRA member firms and their associated persons. In this second episode of a three-part series covering FINRA's crypto asset-related regulatory work, we hear from Jamie Udinson, Senior Director of the Crypto Asset Investigations team, Taylor Etzell, a Senior Principal Investigator, and Jason Foye...

In 2022, FINRA developed an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure it is prepared for an evolving crypto asset regulatory landscape and created the Crypto Hub, the Blockchain Lab and the Crypto Asset Investigations Team.  On this episode, the first in a three-part series, we sit down with Omer Meisel, Senior Vice President of the Complex Investigations and Intelligence Group, Jason Foye, Senior Direct...

The best tool FINRA provides when it comes to firms developing their annual compliance program is now available. The 2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program provides key insights and observations on two dozen key regulatory topics, making it a must-read for compliance professionals.  On this episode, Ornella Bergeron, Senior Vice President of Risk Monitoring, Michael Solomon...