On May 14, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it is launching an initiative designed to transform the digital platform used by firms to engage with FINRA across a variety of programs. The Digital Experience Transformation (the “Initiative”) is an effort to integrate and simplify the digital interactions between brokerage firms and FINRA. The Initiative aims to facilitate efficiency and effectiveness of compliance programs.

In connection with the Initiative, FINRA has solicited and incorporated feedback from the industry through a series of focus groups with firms, as well as a survey of more than 50 firms. These firms provided insights into how the industry interacts with FINRA for compliance information and management, and how the processes can be improved.

The Initiative, which will be implemented in stages over the course of the next few years, is focused on six areas:

• efficiency—centralized task management designed to help compliance professionals do their work faster and at lower cost;

• proactive compliance—actionable notifications for early warning of issues;

• simplified experience—customized and personalized user experience tailored to the role of the user;

• enhanced interaction—centralized workspace to facilitate interaction with FINRA staff;

• flexibility and automation—easier machine-to-machine integration with firm systems, plus enhanced access to FINRA compliance data; and

• self-service—access to online knowledge base and contextual support.

A full press release from FINRA in connection with this matter is available here.