FINRA Reviews Comments on Machine-Readable Rulebook

What You Need to Know

A survey estimated that the rulebook could save firms up to 8% on FINRA-related compliance costs, according to the regulator.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is reminding broker-dealers that the regulator is taking comments on its machine-readable rulebook initiative until Feb. 21.

The initiative, announced last October, is designed to allow quick access to 40 of its most popularly searched rules.

The 40 FINRA rules tagged as part of the initiative are: 1210, 1220, 1230, 1240, 2010, 2040, 2090, 2111, 2122, 2210, 2231, 2241, 2360, 3110, 3120, 3130, 3210, 3220, 3240, 3270, 3280, 3310, 4140, 4160, 4210, 4311, 4370, 4511, 4512, 4513, 4530, 4570, 5110, 5121, 5123, 5130, 5131, 5310, 8210 and 8312.

FINRA is taking comments “on a variety of topics, including, if we do pursue this for the remaining rules, what’s the best method?” Afshin Atabaki, a special advisor and associate general counsel in FINRA’s Office of General Counsel, said on a recent FINRA Unscripted podcast. “Do we partner with someone, including open-source folks? Or is there a specialized vendor out there that can assist with their natural language software? What tools can we use?”

The main takeaway from the comments, Atabaki said, “hopefully will be, ‘look, this has practical, real-world impact and we should pursue it.’ That’s what I’m looking for.”

The prototype of a rulebook search tool — the FINRA Rulebook Search Tool — is available on FINRA’s website.