FINRA Unscripted is the voice of the nation’s largest non-government securities regulator. We bring together FINRA leaders to discuss existing and emerging regu...
Unpacking the 2025 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report
As a self-regulatory organization, information sharing is key to FINRA's pursuit of its mission of investor protection and market integrity. The 2025 FINRA Regulatory Oversight Report provides just that: Critical insights to help firms strengthen their compliance and protect investors.On this episode, hosted by Member Relations and Education Vice President Kayte Toczylowski, FINRA’s regulatory leaders— Executive Vice President and Head of Member Supervision Greg Ruppert, Executive Vice President and Head of Market Regulation and Transparency Services Stephanie Dumont, and Executive Vice President and Head of Enforcement Bill St. Louis—join us to dive into the report’s takeaways and insights for member firms.Resources mentioned in this episode:2025 Regulatory Oversight ReportSEC Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)5310. Best Execution and InterpositioningReg Notice 20-31: FINRA Reminds Firms of Their Supervisory Responsibilities Relating to CATInvestor Insights: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment FraudEpisode 168: Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals
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Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals
Many of us view January as a time to make a fresh start, and as a time to bid farewell to bad habits. In thinking about your New Year's resolutions, have you considered whether you're making financially healthy decisions?On this episode, we sit down with Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and Senior Vice President of Investor Education, to uncover the trends and tips investors need to get their finances in order for 2025. Resources mentioned in this episode:BrokerCheckMarket Data CenterFund AnalyzerFixed Income DataFINRA Investor Education FoundationProtecting Consumers from Fraud
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Unlocking Transparency: Navigating FINRA’s Market Data Offerings
Behind every market transaction lies a wealth of data. But how can we harness this information? On this episode, we sit down with two members of the Market Regulation and Transparency Services team, Senior Vice President of Strategic Regulatory Engagement Alex Ellenberg, and Senior Director of Transparency Services Equities Brendan Loonam. They join us to discuss periodic aggregate market data sets, including some new data recently added to FINRA's website, and how FINRA makes this information available to the public in support of its mission of investor protection and market integrity.Resources mentioned in this episode:FINRA DataOTC Transparency DataNMS Equity and Option Order Routing Reports (SEC Rule 606(a) Reports)About NMS Equity and Options Routing Reports (SEC 606(a) Reports)OTC (ATS & Non-ATS) TransparencyReg Notice 23-10: FINRA Requests Comment on a Proposal to Require Members to Provide Rule 605 Order Execution Quality Reports to FINRA for Centralized PublicationEpisode 149: MRTS 2.0: A Redesign for a Rapidly Evolving Market
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Encore | An Introduction to FINRA’s Crypto Asset Work and the Crypto Hub
This episode originally aired in August 2023. In 2022, FINRA developed an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure it is prepared for an evolving crypto asset regulatory landscape and created the Crypto Hub, the Blockchain Lab and the Crypto Asset Investigations TeamOn this episode, the first in a three-part series, we sit down with Omer Meisel, Senior Vice President of the Complex Investigations and Intelligence Group, Jason Foye, Senior Director and Head of FINRA's Crypto Hub, and Reema Abdelhamid, a Director with FINRA Enforcement to learn more about the strategy and the role of the Hub and FINRA’s work to advance its mission of investor protection and market integrity.Resources mentioned in this episode:FINRA Blog: An Inside Look into FINRA’s Crypto Asset WorkEpisode 112: FINRA's Complex Investigations and Intelligence Team & Cyber and Analytics UnitEpisode 138: FINRA’s Blockchain Lab: Regulation and Innovation For The FutureEpisode 145: Compliance and Communication: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Targeted ExamEpisode 158: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Work and the Crypto HubEpisode 162: When Romance Leads to a Crypto ScamInvestor Insights: What Is a Blockchain, and Why Should I Care?
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Special Investigations Unit: Combating Money Laundering and Fraud in the Securities Industry
In the securities world today, there is little daylight between money laundering and fraud. As these two spaces have come to increasingly overlap, FINRA created the Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, to detect and investigate cases illicit finance, market abuse and other fraud. On this episode, we sit down with SIU Senior Director Gargi Sharma, and three investigative directors from her team: Kayla Le, Peter Gonzalez and David Byrne. They join us to share how they work to proactively identify and mitigate threats related to money laundering and other frauds.Resources mentioned in this episode:Reg Notice 21-14: FINRA Alerts Firms to Increase in ACH Instant Funds AbuseReg Notice 22-25: Heightened Threat of FraudReg Notice 23-06: Effective Practices to Address Risks of Fraudulent Transfers2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight ReportInvestor Insight: Ramp-and-Dump ScamsInvestor Insight: Investment Group Imposter ScamsEpisode 33: AML in the Securities IndustryEpisode 129: Detecting and Preventing ACATS FraudEpisode 154: FINRA’s High-Risk Representative ProgramEpisode 157: An Update on FINRA’s Financial Intelligence Unit Episode 161: FINRA CEO Robert Cook on Disrupting the Cycle of Financial Fraud
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FINRA Unscripted is the voice of the nation’s largest non-government securities regulator. We bring together FINRA leaders to discuss existing and emerging regulatory topics that impact the broker-dealer industry. We share best practices for compliance officers, insights into the operations of a 3,500 person self-regulated organization and educational tools and information for investors. Every investor in America relies on one thing: fair financial markets. That is what FINRA works every day to ensure.
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