ASA Comments on FINRA Regulatory Notice 22-08

Questions FINRA's Authority to Regulate Investor Choice

WASHINGTON – The American Securities Association (ASA) today submitted comments on the Financial Industry Regulatory (FINRA) Notice 22-08, a series of proposed measures that could undermine the core principle of our financial regulatory system – the right of investors to choose based on full and fair disclosures.

“We are concerned the questions FINRA posed in the Notice reflect a fundamental shift away from the current disclosure-based regime and toward a merit-based one,” ASA CEO Chris Iacovella wrote in the letter. “Specifically, the questions FINRA has asked about imposing restrictions or limits on investors suggests an approach that is contrary to the disclosure-based system that Congress has maintained for more than 80 years.”

In addition to outlining how FINRA should not seek to upend the federal securities laws, ASA expanded on how limiting investor choice harms investors while FINRA provides no basis for new regulation.

“Moreover, while FINRA’s history and expertise is grounded in regulating broker-dealers, the measures under consideration extend beyond supervising broker-dealer behavior to supervising investor access to the public markets,” Iacovella wrote. “FINRA was never intended to be – and it does not have the institutional capacity to be – a regulator of investor choice.”

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ASA’s regional financial services companies work in communities across the country to create jobs, grow the economy, and increase prosperity for all Americans. The ASA exclusively represents the capital market and private client interests of its members and seeks to promote free market principles making it easier to access financial advice and capital. ASA members help Americans save for retirement, provide Main Street businesses with capital to grow, and advise hardworking Americans how to create and preserve wealth. For the latest updates follow @AmerSecurities and learn more at http://americansecurities.org/.