FRANKD BYERSGH

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) may be the largest non-governmental regulator for many securities firms conducting business in america. All told, FINRA oversees nearly 5,000 brokerage firms, about 173,000 branch offices and over 677,000 registered securities representatives.

FINRA is responsible for regulatory oversight of most securities businesses that work with people; professional training, testing and licensing of registered persons; arbitration and mediation; market regulation by seek The NASDAQ Stock exchange, Inc., the American Stock Exchange LLC, and the International Securities Exchange, LLC; and industry utilities, for example Trade Reporting Facilities and other over-the-counter operations.

FINRA was formed with a consolidation with the enforcement arm with the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Regulation, Inc., and the NASD. America Filing approved the merger on July 26, 2007. FINRA is focused on investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services.

FINRA touches just about any aspect of the securities business-from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting along with other industry utilities; and administering the greatest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. Additionally, it performs market regulation under contract for The NASDAQ Stock Market, the American Stock Exchange, the International Securities Exchange as well as the Chicago Climate Exchange.

FINRA has approximately 3,000 employees and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with 15 District Offices across the country.

FINRA believes investor protection starts with education. The FINRA Investor Education Foundation will be the largest foundation in the usa committed to investor education. By June 2007, the inspiration had approved $10.4 million in grants and an additional $10.2 million in direct investor education programming.

You can examine the backdrop of your investment professional with FINRA BrokerCheck. FINRA BrokerCheck is really a free online tool to help investors look at the professional background of current and former FINRA-registered securities firms and brokers. It should be the first resource investors consider when choosing whether or not to do business with a particular broker or broker agent.

Options that come with FINRA BrokerCheck include:

* Search capabilities for both an agent and broker agent

* Online delivery of a directory a broker or broker agent

* Explanatory information to aid investors better understand the content, context and source of the information provided

* Links to additional resources and tools
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