The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority filed a proposed rule change to amend Rule 8313, which governs the release of disciplinary and other information by FINRA to the public. Among other things, amended Rule 8313 would establish general standards for the release of disciplinary information to the public to provide greater information regarding FINRA’s disciplinary actions, clarify the scope of information subject to Rule 8313 and eliminate provisions that do not address the release of information to the public. For example, with respect to disciplinary complaints and decisions, the proposed rule would eliminate the publicity thresholds and adopt general standards for release to the public. This would allow FINRA to make available information that is available in BrokerCheck, but is not eligible for publication under current publicity thresholds. In addition, under the proposed rule FINRA would release unredacted copies of statutory disqualification decisions, notifications and notices (subject to limited exceptions). Furthermore, to clarify the scope of Rule 8313 the proposed rule change would delete or move provisions that do not address publication standards. For example, the proposed rule change would amend certain rules in the Rule 9000 Series (Code of Procedure) and add a provision to Rule 9268 (Decision of Hearing Panel or Extended Hearing Panel) regarding the effective dates of sanctions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is accepting comments on the proposed rule change. Comments should refer to File Number SR-FINRA-2013-018 and must be submitted to the SEC by April 15, 2013.

The notice of filing is available here.