The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority collected $61 million in fines last year, a 6% dip from $65 million collected in 2017. The broker-dealer self-regulator allocated $9.7 million of the 2018 fine money to overhaul its registration and disclosure programs, including the Central Registration Depository system, and to launch its new Securities Industry Essentials exam.
This is the second year that FINRA has shared how its fine monies are spent.
“It’s good to see that FINRA is continuing with the transparency that it established last year,” Brian Rubin, partner at Eversheds Sutherland, told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday. “I’m sure firms will be heartened to see that FINRA is using fines, in part, to help firms comply with rules and to educate investors. Firms may, however, question FINRA using fines to pay for enforcement tools that may help FINRA bring more cases and assess higher fines.”
(Related: FINRA Launches New Fintech Office)