Finra employees saw a 4.7% comp bump in 2023

The total compensation and benefits for the 4,300 employees at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. in 2023 was - on average - $233,500 per worker, according to the self-regulatory organization's annual report.

That's an increase of 4.7% when compared to a year earlier, when 3,900 employees saw - again on average - $223,000 per employee in compensation and benefits.

Finra has been hiring, and that's turned into compensation and benefits to reach almost $1 billion. In its annual report published June 28 reported staff compensation and benefits in 2023 of $981 million, compared to $870 million the year before, an increase of 12.8%.

Pay packages at Finra have always been a sore spot for the wider brokerage and wealth management industries, which underwrite the self-regulator through fees and penalties. Many financial advisors and broker-dealer executives simply do not like the fact that a Finra employee may earn more than them on annual basis.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 272,190 personal financial advisors, with a mean wage as of last May of $150,670, with total compensation a broader term than a wage because it includes other benefits. Still, in a comparison that is not apples to apples, the average total compensation of a Finra employee in 2023 was more than one-third greater than the mean wage of a financial advisor.

Meanwhile, Finra CEO Robert Cook had total compensation in 2023 of $3.84 million vs. $3.68 million, an increase of 4.3%.

"They’ve paid people well," said Sander Ressler, managing director of Essential Edge Compliance Outsourcing Services. "No one has ever gone hungry working for Finra."

Finra expects its operating expenses to increase again in 2024, according to the annual report.

In 2007, the NASD and NYSE Regulation, Enforcement and Arbitration combined to form Finra, which was immediately tested as the real estate and equities market collapsed during the financial crisis of 2008.

"Staff increases related to our regulatory operations and technology functions primarily drove the year-over-year increase in employees, according to the report. "These staff increases were driven by contractor conversions and additional staff needed to support the increased scope of our regulatory activities and responsibilities, and market complexity."

Finra reported a net loss of $22.2 million in 2023, compared to a net loss of $218.1 million in 2022, according to the report. The 2023 net loss was driven by operating and other losses of $119.1 million and $5 million, respectively, offset by investment gains of $101.9 million.

A Finra spokesperson declined to comment beyond the information in the annual report.