The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has been given the go ahead from the SEC to make it’s BrokerCheck service records of final regulatory actions against brokers permanently available to the public.
Previously, a broker’s record generally becomes unavailable to the public two years after he or she leaves the securities industry and is therefore no longer under FINRA’s jurisdiction.
According to a FINRA new release:
“It is possible that a (former broker) could become a financial planner or work in another related field where his securities record would help members of the public decide if they should accept his financial advice or rely on his advice or expertise,” the SEC said in its order approving the BrokerCheck expansion. It added that providing information on final regulatory actions against former brokers “will help members of the public to protect themselves from unscrupulous people and thus….should help prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, and protect investors and the public interest.”
Also according to FINRA – records for those individuals will become available on November 30th and will include any final sanction (such as bars, suspensions and fines) imposed by the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, any federal banking agency, the National Credit Union Administration, any other federal regulatory agency, any state regulatory agency, any foreign financial regulatory authority or any self-regulatory organization (such as FINRA).
Those individuals’ records generally will also disclose administrative information such as employment and registration history, the individual’s most recently submitted comments and the dates and names of qualification examinations passed by the individual.
Sounds like a good step in the right direction to me.
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