FINRA / Financial Industry

Under the oversight of the SEC, FINRA protects investors in the United States by requiring broker-dealers to conduct fair financial market transactions. Compliance with the FINRA retention requirements helps broker-dealers secure the financial data they handle. Read on to learn what they are and how they apply.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a non-governmental agency authorized by Congress to help regulate and protect the financial industry. Operating under the auspices of the SEC as a Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO), FINRA ensures that broker-dealers are honest and forthright and that financial data is kept secure.

Today, you can snap a photo of a check and deposit it without ever leaving your couch, making banking and investing more convenient than ever. This revolution is largely thanks to the rise of Financial Technology or Fintech. Fintech’s impact reaches beyond ordinary people, allowing companies to improve operational efficiency and customer convenience.  With this new technology comes a greater responsibility to protect consumers’ financial and personal information by keeping up-to-date on Fintech compliance regulations. 

Are you a financial institution or startup trying to achieve Fintech compliance? Read on to find out how to comply with the rules and regulations. 

In today’s society, there are new cybersecurity threats to the financial sector every day. Find out the most common risks for financial institutions here.

Cybersecurity threats pose a substantial risk to just about every company and individual all over the world. That may sound like hyperbole but according to USA Today, billions of people have been affected by cybersecurity attacks. Financial institutions are particularly at risk due to the massive amount of capital they oversee. Understanding the risks and how to protect yourself are vital in succeeding in the financial world.

To the cyber-criminal, the world is a list of digital targets. There are two primary methods for selecting those targets. Sometimes the adversaries cast a very large automated digital net, looking for easily exploitable weaknesses wherever they exist. When the system reports one, they decide if the target is worth their time and either pursue it or move on to the next. 

The other is a far more dangerous method, in which the target is pre-selected because it is considered high-value. When hackers decided to go after Target Stores in 2013 the attack was complex, methodical, and persistent; eventually compromising over 40 million people’s card data and costing the company over $300 million.

JP Morgan Chase suffered a breach in 2014 in which they reportedly compromised the financial and personal information of more than 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The total cost of that incident is estimated to reach $1 billion!

According to the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index of 2019,  Finance and Insurance was the most frequently targeted industry in 2018 with 19% of the tracked attacks.