Richard Ketchum, CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, called on the SEC Tuesday to "act quickly" to finalize its rule to put brokers and advisors under a uniform fiduciary standard, but noted that in the absence of SEC action, FINRA would "look hard" at issuing "an additional disclosure rule with respect to broker-dealer firms."
At FINRA's annual conference in Washington, Ketchum said that it's time for the SEC to move toward finalizing a uniform fiduciary standard. After his speech, Ketchum told reporters that as SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter had noted, "there may be a role for FINRA in the area of disclosure leadership and controls either consistent with the SEC's action" on a fiduciary rule or outside of the SEC's rule.
Ketchum said that once FINRA has completed its "conflicts review" of firms, which the self-regulator launched at the end of 2012, FINRA would "look hard at additional disclosure with respect to broker-dealer firms." Disclosure, Ketchum added, will be a "major focus" for FINRA this year.
Another priority for FINRA in 2013, Ketchum told attendees, will be to review the impact its rules have on BD firms—and it will be asking for firms' input on which ones to review.
"We will be reviewing certain rules retrospectively to determine if the rules have achieved their intended purpose," Ketchum said. "And we will be analyzing the costs and benefits of existing and potential rulemaking."
