Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA oversees nearly 4,620 brokerage firms, 165,920 branch offices and 636,340 registered securities representatives.

FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business—from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. FINRA also performs market regulation under contract for the major U.S. stock markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, NYSE Amex, The NASDAQ Stock Market and the International Securities Exchange.

FINRA gathers and analyzing targeted information prior to each exam regarding a firm’s ownership and affiliate relationships; examining the relationship between broker-dealers and/or their affiliates with feeder funds, or master funds that utilize feeder funds; enhancing the use of third-party verification of assets and reviewing for appropriate internal controls and segregation of duties where we identify apparent conflicts of interest; and verifying compliance with custody requirements when firms have a higher level of control over customer assets, such as when acting as both adviser and broker to customers.