The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Monday that it was consolidating its three separate exam programs into a single, unified program.
FINRA's Examination and Risk Monitoring Programs will be collapsed "to drive more effective oversight and greater consistency, eliminate duplication and create a single point of accountability for the examination of firms," the broker-dealer self-regulator said.
The three exams — business conduct, financial and trading compliance — which are currently divided among three different programs will be consolidated "under a single framework designed to better direct and align examination resources to the risk profile and complexity" of FINRA member firms.
"Our Examination and Risk Monitoring program is central to our efforts to protect investors and guard the integrity of markets. After careful consideration and extensive feedback from internal and external stakeholders, we are moving toward a program structure that is based on the firms we oversee," said Robert Cook, FINRA's president and CEO, in a statement.
The consolidation will bring those programs "under a single framework designed to better direct and align examination resources to the risk profile and complexity of member firms.
"By directing our expertise and resources in a more tailored way, we will become more effective at examining for compliance."
Planning for the consolidation is underway, FINRA said, under the leadership of FINRA's exam chief, Bari Havlik.
Havlik said the "significant undertaking" is "well underway" and will continue through 2019.
