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 number of mutual funds receiving the highest possible stewardship grades from investment research provider Morningstar Inc. dropped, while the number receiving the lowest grades increased as a result of the company's Sept. 25 revision of its grading system to impose new, tougher standards.
Broker-dealers will need to beef up compliance and oversight of variable annuity sales by their representatives at the start of next year.
The insurance industry wants Congress to do something about the Byzantine system of state-by-state agent licensing and oversight.
Insurance regulators are joining the attack on investment fraud that targets older Americans.
Securities and Exchange Commission officials are drafting a document that defines suitability as it relates to the sale of securities. “The document is an extensive and comprehensive view of securities and case law in this area,” including some useful examples, Erik Sirri, director of market regulation, said at the SEC’s second annual Seniors Summit.
The SEC has approved a FINRA rule intended to improve B-D sales practices for purchases and exchanges of deferred VAs.
As regulators and Congress scrutinize the proliferation of financial advisory designations aimed at bilking elderly investors, the organization that grants the certified financial planner credential is investigating whether its name is being improperly used by groups that promote bogus certifications.
NEW YORK — NEXT Financial Group Inc., which is in the middle of a scrap with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its use of confidential client information when recruiting representatives, is getting strong support in some corners of the independent-contractor brokerage industry.
IRVINE, Calif. — Critics of the industry arbitration system want the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to require that “public” arbitrators have no ties to the industry. In a rule awaiting approval at the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York- and Washington-based FINRA has proposed limiting to $50,000 a year the amount of revenue a public arbitrator could receive from brokerage firms for handling customer disputes.
MSC is the subject of a complaint by FINRA concerning the firm's allegedly shoddy VA bookkeeping.
The claim centers on investments in Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, or CMOs.
Regulators continue to leave independent- contractor broker-dealers in the lurch over the tricky issue of how brokers can use clients’ private information when moving accounts to a new firm.
Intensifying its recent focus on protecting retirees, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority began last month a sweep of broker-dealers focusing on the use of exemptions in the tax code to withdraw money from retirement accounts for clients before they reach 59½.
Firms are receiving the $35,000 that was promised upon the completion of the NASD-NYSE Reg merger.
NEW YORK — Middle-aged men in wigs performing a rap song, promises of a “Leadzilla” lead - generation system, and claims of millions of dollars in annual commissions — is this any way to market annuities?
