Finra unveils guidelines for social media and blogging

For months, a task force for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has been reviewing some of the major issues surrounding the professional use of social media in the financial services community – and now the self-regulatory organization has finally issued an overview of their guidelines. The brief, which which can be viewed in its entirety here, answers some frequently asked questions about both blogs and social media. In one section, the brief broadly states that “firms must adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that their associated persons who participate in social media sites for business purposes are appropriately supervised, have the necessary training and background to engage in such activities, and do not present undue risks to investors. “Firms must have a general policy prohibiting any associated person from engaging in business communications in a socialmedia site that is not subject to the firm's supervision,” it continued. To learn more about the brief, download the full PDF, or register for a free InvestmentNews webcast event tomorrow that will detail the guildelines of the brief and discuss other issues advisers are dealing with in the new world of social media. And to see how money managers are dealing with social media, check out this story from our sister publication, Pensions & Investments.