The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued $39.5 million in fines in 2019, a 35% drop from the $61 million in fines levied in 2018. The broker-dealer self-regulator allocated $12.5 million to its exam and disciplinary programs and $18.7 million to modernize, among other systems, the Central Registration Depository (CRD) licensing and registration system.
The FINRA Board determined that there were $71.1 million in fines-eligible expenditures in 2019.
The CRD transformation is expected to be complete in 2021. The goal is to increase the utility and efficiency of the registration and disclosure process for firms, investors and regulators, and to reduce compliance costs for firms, according to FINRA.