What You Need to Know
- Christopher Kelly, senior vice president and deputy head of enforcement, will be acting head of enforcement.
Jessica Hopper is stepping down as head of enforcement for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Feb. 3 after 18 years with the regulator, FINRA said Tuesday.
Christopher Kelly, senior vice president and deputy head of enforcement, has been named acting head of enforcement until FINRA selects a new head of enforcement.
FINRA didn’t say why Hopper is stepping down and a spokesperson declined to comment.
During Hopper’s time as head of enforcement, FINRA brought several significant disciplinary actions against firms, individual brokers and reps, including its largest-ever enforcement action, against Robinhood; prioritized returning of money to harmed investors; and completed an initiative to combine previously separate units into an integrated “One Enforcement” department, FINRA noted.
Under her leadership, the enforcement department fined Robinhood $57 million and ordered it to pay $12.6 million to thousands of customers — record sanctions that FINRA said “reflected the seriousness and scope of the systemic supervisory failures and other violations uncovered by” its investigation.