BrokerCheck

I get the fact that anyone silly enough to work for a broker-dealer knowingly chooses to live in a fishbowl.  Thanks to BrokerCheck, you can very easily learn more about a registered representative than you can about, say, a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, you name it, all through a couple of mouse clicks.  But,

In the past week, I ran across two discrete instances in which FINRA acts as a secret gatekeeper of sorts, exercising its own subjective judgment, without anyone knowing what, exactly, it is doing or why, employing unarticulated standards, and without providing any avenue for redress.  And I find that really frightening.

The first involves CRD,

A couple of events caught my attention this week and, since they are related, I thought I’d address them together.

On Monday, the SEC announced a proposed rule change to FINRA Rule 8312, the FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure Rule. Rule 8312 permits FINRA to disclose certain information on BrokerCheck about registered individuals. As many of you

All the numbers are up!

I read with great interest the recent flurry of articles in the financial news, including one appearing on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, about the supposed flaws with FINRA’s BrokerCheck due to the fact that it omits from public view some items, e.g., certain misdemeanor convictions and financial issues (unsatisfied liens