Financial Regulatory Forum

By Ted Knutson,  Complinet

It is “possible” a budget squeeze could push the Securities and Exchange Commission into calling for a self-regulatory organization for investment advisers, David Tittsworth, executive director at Investment Adviser Association, told Complinet.

Tittsworth suggested that the need to outsource regulatory oversight could be avoided by assessing advisers a fee to pay for the cost of their examinations by the SEC. The most likely candidate for fulfilling an oversight function would be the brokerage industry self-regulatory organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Tittsworth added. As Complinet has reported, FINRA chairman Richard Ketchum has repeatedly said his organization is prepared to meet the challenge. (more…)

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Wall Street regulator FINRA, which demands disclosure and openness from brokers, is under pressure to lift the veil on its own affairs.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a private corporation that regulates the nation’s 4,700 brokerages, will learns at its annual meeting on Thursday how many support a dissident’s call for more transparency.

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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. brokerage watchdog is probing how Wall Street firms, including JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup Inc, offer stock research, two people familiar with the probe said on Friday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which supervises nearly 4,800 brokerage firms, sent letters to more than 10 firms in early November asking for information related to their unpublished research material, one of the people said.

The same person said FINRA is eyeing the firms’ policies related to their delivery of the unpublished research material. Both sources requested anonymity because the sweep has not been made public.

NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn raise “serious new challenges” for financial regulators, the head of the largest U.S. independent securities regulator said on Tuesday.

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By Ross Kerber
BOSTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Federal securities officials warned investors for the first time on Tuesday that leveraged exchange-traded funds could lead to big losses.

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