FINRA’s Website Experiencing Search Problems
FINRA says of its website that it has "more work to do, and that work remains well underway.”
Complaints have surfaced that the search function on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s revamped website is malfunctioning.
Issues brought to ThinkAdvisor’s attention — and from our staff’s own searches — reveal problems in searching terms from the homepage like “529” or 529, which garners a “No Results Found.” A search for 529 Plan brings up unrelated content. The same goes when searching 12b-1 fees, with or without quotes.
The site appears to be malfunctioning when it comes to searching for numbers.
“One of our top priorities in redesigning FINRA.org last year was to make the website easier to navigate, and we have heard a lot of positive feedback about the clearer, streamlined structure of the web site, as well as the improved search function,” a FINRA spokesman told ThinkAdvisor on Wednesday. “We also know that we have more work to do, and that work remains well underway.”
FINRA stated last year that it had launched a beta version of FINRA.org on July 1 that would allow users to both explore the new navigation and functionality, as well as provide feedback.
FINRA says it received over 1,800 submissions on the online feedback survey in the almost two-month beta period. “We used that feedback as a basis for improvements we made to the site ahead of the launch, and continue to use that feedback to enhance the website.”
The FINRA spokesman told ThinkAdvisor that “over a two-month beta test period and five months since we launched the site in September, we received more than 3,800 survey responses and have continued to make adjustments to the website based on that helpful feedback.”
Comments about FINRA’s website can be filed here: https://www.finra.org/contact-finra.