New networking site for advisers said to comply with Finra regs

A startup, LinkedFA, is described in a press release as the “first and only Finra-compliant social-networking site for financial professionals.” The site is supposed to be launched sometime in the coming weeks after it has its first 15,000 subscribers. According to Brian Byrne, co-founder and chief executive of LinkedFA, the site has been in development for the last 18 months and was purpose-built to meet the needs of financial advisers and financial institutions. Those needs include adhering to the Financial Regulatory Authority Inc.’s compliance, supervision and record-keeping requirements. The site also complies with the document retention rules found under Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4 of the Securities Exchange Act 1934, according to Mr. Byrne. While its creators consider LinkedFA to be a social network, it takes a fundamentally different approach from services such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Those popular sites allow anyone to sign up for an account. Members of the general public, investors and clients, for example, will need an invitation from a financial adviser or institution to join LinkedFA, at least initially, according to Mr. Byrne. “One of the big issues we’ve observed for professionals using other sites was reputation management — Facebook, for instance, doesn't really give you the ability to control things; you never know what is going to show up on your wall,” Mr. Byrne said. “With LinkedFA, advisers and institutions have the ability to accept or reject any posting,” he said. In terms of its actual networking features, Mr. Byrne said that the site will be similar to what most people have experienced with LinkedIn or Facebook. Advisers or others interested in participating can go to the website and preregister for free. The site will remain free throughout its beta-testing period, and its pricing model and costs thereafter have not been finalized. It should be noted that LinkedFA is not approved or endorsed by, or affiliated with, Finra. For more information about LinkedFA, visit LinkedFA online.