Office address: 1700 K St NW, Washington, DC 20006
Website: finra.org
Year established: 2007 Company type: non-government organization
Employees: 4,200+
Expertise: securities regulation, broker-dealer supervision, market surveillance, enforcement and disciplinary actions, investor education, dispute resolution and arbitration, trade reporting transparency, cybersecurity and fraud detection
Parent company: N/A Key people: Robert Cook (CEO); Robert Colby (chief legal officer); Todd Diganci (CFO); Marcia Asquith (EVP); Ornella Bergeron, Denise Dombay, and Maureen Delaney (SVPs)
Financing status: N/A
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a Washington-based self-regulatory body that supervises more than 3,200 broker-dealers. It enforces rules, monitors trading, and runs tools such as TRACE, BrokerCheck, and the consolidated audit trail. In 2024, it posted $99 million net income and unveiled a crypto education program.
FINRA was officially formed in 2007 through a strategic merger. The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) joined forces with the New York Stock Exchange's (NYSE) regulatory division to operate as one.
This created a unified, independent regulator for America's securities industry. The move modernized oversight for a changing market and strengthened investor protections nationwide.
FINRA's story actually began decades earlier, in an era of economic recovery. The NASD registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1939. This registration formalized what traders had been doing informally for generations.
Congress had established the SEC in 1934 following the devastating market crash of 1929. Two years later, lawmakers passed the Maloney Act to regulate off-exchange securities trading more effectively.
The NASD spent 68 years evolving to match the changing securities landscape and technology. By the early 2000s, fragmented regulatory oversight became increasingly inefficient for a modern industry.
The 2007 merger created the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority by combining the NASD's institutional knowledge with the NYSE's regulatory expertise. This unified regulator now oversees all brokers and firms across US markets comprehensively.
As 2024 closed, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued substantial penalties against three major firms. These companies faced settlements for sending inaccurate trade information and filing flawed Focus reports. Year-end enforcement actions let both regulators and firms resolve lingering compliance issues cleanly.companies faced settlements for sending inaccurate trade information and filing flawed Focus reports. Year-end enforcement actions let both regulators and firms resolve lingering compliance issues cleanly.
Into 2025, FINRA's Regulatory Oversight Report highlighted three major threats to the industry. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities from third-party technology providers topped concerns alongside AI compliance challenges. Investment fraud schemes also continue to shift as bad actors devise new ways to deceive clients.
FINRA regulates broker-dealers and investment firms in America by combining enforcement with educational resources to protect investors and maintain market integrity:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also addresses emerging threats like cybersecurity risks and artificial intelligence compliance challenges. The organization remains focused on supporting a healthy, trustworthy securities market for all participants.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority reports that investor protection and market stability form the core of its mission. The regulator values its employees and delivers market-rate compensation with benefits such as:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also says that it does not discriminate in hiring based on disability, veteran status, and other protected classifications under federal, state, and local law. It complies with 41 CFR regulations protecting disabled individuals and veterans.
Robert W. Cook is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's president and CEO, with prior experience directing the SEC's trading and markets division. Before FINRA, Cook was a partner at a law firm in Washington. His education includes a JD from Harvard Law School, a master's degree from the London School of Economics, and an undergraduate from Harvard.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's leadership team includes the following key executives:
These executives manage the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's daily operations while upholding the organization's core mission to protect investors.
FINRA launched a targeted probe into broker-dealers underwriting small foreign company IPOs to combat pump-and-dump schemes. The regulator required detailed supervisory procedures and due diligence records for offerings between January 2023 and September 2025. This enforcement action positions the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as a proactive market protector against cross-border securities fraud.
The organization also penalized First Trust Portfolios, an ETF provider, in 2025 with a $10 million settlement for excessive gifts to broker-dealer representatives. The violations spanned from 2018 through February 2024 and included luxury courtside tickets and concert events. This enforcement action illustrates FINRA's commitment to preventing investor harm through strict non-cash compensation oversight.
The ARS had been bought by three of New York-based BNY Mellon’s funds prior to mid-February, when the market for these debt instruments dried up, according to Fund Action.
Despite intense pressure from regulators to tighten recruiting standards for brokers with marks on their records, these bad apples are still being hired by new firms, recent cases illustrate.
America’s top financial watchdogs need to make haste in addressing transparency challenges posed by complex securities products, NYSE Reg chief executive Richard Ketchum emphasized Tuesday in a speech at Hofstra University.
A former broker from GunnAllen Financial Inc. of Tampa, Fla., stole $1.3 million from at least 16 elderly clients in the past six years, according to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities.
Finra has fined Citigroup Global Markets, the brokerage and securities arm of Citigroup Inc., $300,000 for failing to reasonably supervise the commissions that its brokers charged their clients on stock and options trades.
Plaintiff's attorney Bill Gladden thought he had handled his last investor arbitration case when he retired in February. But a flood of claims arising from the $2 billion blowup of the Regions Morgan Keegan Select bond funds pulled him back into the legal fray.
Running on New York-area news radio stations these days is a commercial for a municipal bond offering by a special-purpose New York City taxing authority.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to approve a controversial rule that would make dismissing arbitration cases more difficult.
National and state securities regulators disagree over the use of encryption in storing and communicating client information.
Finra has fined independent broker-dealer J.P. Turner $250,000 for failing to employ an adequate supervisory system to ensure that its registered representatives charged customers "fair and reasonable" commissions on stock trades.
LPL Financial plans a spirited defense against claims that it was negligent in its supervision of a rogue broker who allegedly stole $5 million from at least 40 victims, many from his church in Phoenix.
The plaintiff's bar will continue pushing for the elimination of industry arbitrators, said Brian Smiley, the new president of PIABA.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. today announced agreements in principle with Bank of New York Mellon Capital Markets LLC, City National Securities Inc. and Harris Investor Services Inc. to settle charges related to the selling and marketing of auction rate securities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has chosen Nov. 17 as the new deadline for comments on its proposal to register indexed annuities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has reopened the comment period for its proposed rule on federal regulation of index annuities.
