FINRA Debuts Remote Inspections Resource for Advisors, Firms

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has created a new web page for its voluntary, three-year Remote Inspections Pilot Program, which starts on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2027.

In the program, eligible member firms will have the flexibility to be inspected “without an on-site visit to the office or location, subject to specified terms that include conducting and documenting a risk assessment, and producing written supervisory procedures for conducting remote inspections and inspection data to FINRA,” the page explains.

FINRA also reminds firms that Rule 3110.17, the temporary remote inspections rule, will end on June 30.

Before, during and after the pandemic, “there has been a lot of industry concern about remote exams,” FINRA’s Board Chairman, Eric Noll, said Tuesday at FINRA’s annual conference in Washington. Firms are asking: “Why can’t we do more? Why do we have to have exams for single-person offices in cities — it’s expensive and intrusive.’”