In case it wasn't clear before, last week the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority made it very clear that it's ready, willing and able to extend its jurisdiction to RIAs.
FINRA (which changed its name a few years ago when NASD merged with the regulatory arm of the NYSE) is the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the broker-dealer industry. In a November 2 letter to the SEC, FINRA CEO Rick Ketchum urged the SEC to "seek authority to establish one or more self-regulatory organizations (SROs) for investment advisers."
Mr. Ketchum's rationale is that the SEC has insufficient resources to oversee the investment advisory profession. He points out that FINRA examines about half of all broker-dealers each year while the SEC only examines 9% of investment advisors.
The rest of the letter is largely devoted to extolling the virtues of SROs in general and FINRA in particular. If you have any interest in whether FINRA should be able to inspect your firm—and issue regulations governing investment advisors—you should take a few minutes to review the full text of the letter.
The FINRA letter also refers to the comment letter that my group, the Investment Adviser Association, filed, calling it "troubling" and alleging that the IAA supports the "status quo."
