FINRA Membership Application Rule retrospective – Interested in a summary of the comments received by FINRA? See Mitch Atkins’ LinkedIn article about it.
FINRA sometimes seeks comments on rule proposals and other matters. This time, comments were solicited on the FINRA Membership Application Rules as part of its rule retrospective program. Last year, FINRA announced that it would engage in retrospective reviews of its rules in certain areas. This presented an unusual opportunity to provide formal comments on the existing FINRA Membership Application Rules and to provide suggestions about the process. Over the years, the FINRA Membership Application Rules have been the subject of a good deal of discussion. So a retrospective rule review in this area seemed like it made a lot of sense when FINRA announced it in Regulatory Notice 15-10. It is reasonable to expect that FINRA may make changes to its rules or processes in this area to address industry comments that it receives. Mitch Atkins, Principal and Founder of FirstMark Regulatory Solutions, a broker-dealer consulting firm that specializes in FINRA membership applications (NMA and CMA filings) reviewed and summarized the comments. The results were a bit surprising. Check Mitch Atkins’ LinkedIn article for more details on exactly what was suggested, and what he expects that FINRA might do going forward.
Update: FINRA completed its retrospective rule review in the MAP space and commenters supported the core MAP function while suggesting changes to streamline the administrative process. Suggested changes included restructuring and streamlining the MAP rules, reducing the overall time period for application review from 180 days to 150 days, and clarifying certain areas including, events that will require a CMA, ability of the MAP Group to lapse and reject applications, and elimination of the ability to impose interim restrictions. While these changes have not been implemented as of yet, FINRA has published changes designed to incentivize payment of arbitration awards. See Regulatory Notice 20-15 for additional information.
FirstMark assists clients with all types of FINRA membership applications. If you need help with an issue involving a FINRA CMA, Membership Agreement Change or Materiality Consultation, or to form a new FINRA broker-dealer, contact Mitch Atkins at FirstMark by calling 561-948-6511.
