The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory organization, a non-governmental organization that performs financial regulation of member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA’s mission is to protect investors by making sure the United States securities industry operates fairly and honestly .
FINRA operates the largest arbitration forum in the United States for the resolution of disputes between customers and member firms, as well as between brokerage firm employees and their firms. Virtually all agreements between investors and their stockbrokers include mandatory arbitration agreements, whereby investors (and the brokerage firms) waive their right to trial in a court of law .
For disputes over $100,000 between customers and member firms, the panel that decides the case generally consists of three arbitrators: one industry (or, at the customer’s timely discretion non-industry) panelist, one non-industry panelist, and one non-industry chairperson, according to the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes. For a given case, the two sides are provided separate lists by FINRA of ten local arbitrators for each category from which each party can strike up to four arbitrators and provide a ranking for the rest. Also provided are ten-year biographies and prior award histories for each arbitrator. FINRA will then provide the parties with the panel members by selecting the highest ranked available arbitrator from each category.
If you or someone you know has lost money as a result of an investment, please contact Richard Frankowski at 888-741-7503 to discuss your potential legal remedies.