December 14, 2010

FINRA Directors Defend Ombuds Program

Three members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's board of governors said that small firms should not fear reprisals for complaints to the Ombudsman. In an email to member firms earlier this week, the three governors who represent small firms said they have heard that Finra members "are reluctant to speak with Finra supervisors when an issue arises during an exam, for fear of reprisal." The Finra governors said that the Ombuds, Cindy Foster, assured them that a firm "will never suffer a reprisal from staff for raising an issue with the ombudsman."
The public statement of support for the Finra Ombuds Office was unexpected because the three small firm governors--Jed Bandes, Joel Blumenschein and Ken Norensberg--were elected as dissidents and it was assumed they would be critical of the Ombuds. (Investment News.)

No comments:

Post a Comment