SEC OKs FINRA BrokerCheck Link Rule

A deep link is a BrokerCheck link that sends the user directly to the summary reports specific to a firm or broker, and includes a firm or individual's CRD number.

"Including direct hyperlinks and, specifically, individualized deep links would have virtually automatically and effortlessly connected investors with the specific BrokerCheck information relevant to that investor," NASAA argued in a comment letter to FINRA.

Further, NASAA said that FINRA's revamped plan continues to wrongly exclude email. "Continuing this [email] exclusion weakens the effectiveness of the rule," NASAA stated. FINRA should reinstate "the deep link component" and extend the proposed rule to email as both "would strengthen the proposal," NASAA said.

Including email "would be to have the BrokerCheck link in the signature block of the email. It could be as simple as a link to BrokerCheck, or as involved as a deep link for the rep," a NASAA spokesperson told ThinkAdvisor in a previous interview.

These two components — email and deep links — NASAA told FINRA in its comment letter, "would be significantly more effective than 'readily apparent references and hyperlinks' to the BrokerCheck system in increasing investors' real-time, day-to-day exposure to financial advisor information, especially considering electronic mail is a widely used tool to conduct business."

The SEC did, however, clarify in its approval a question raised by the Financial Services Institute about whether the rule applies to websites maintained by financial advisors who are independent contractors. The answer: Yes.

— Check out FINRA Floats Tougher Expungement Rules on ThinkAdvisor.