Deadline Approaching for FINRA Hyperlink Requirement for Members' Websites

November 17th is the deadline for broker-dealers who identify themselves as FINRA members on their websites to include a hyperlink to FINRA's website "in close proximity" to that reference ) or at least one of them).  Some might call this a trivial issue, but I'll bet some examiners will be checking for this.  The Regulatory Notice announcing the requirement can be found here, make sure you IT folks are up to speed on this one.

Comments

[Russell]

On many member websites, firms are identifying themselves as NASD members with no reference to their FINRA membership (presumably because the web designers never updated these sites). As a technical matter, I wonder if these firms would need to include a hyperlink to the FINRA website since they are not identifying themselves as FINRA members.

[Joel Beck]

Russell -
Earlier, FINRA announced that members could use then-current NASD compliant forms, stationary, etc. that contained the NASD name until those supplies were current. But they also noted that firms should update websites and other online materials as soon as possible. See this FINRA announcement: http://www.finra.org/Resources/InformationforFirms/P036356

I don't think that firms will get much grace past the mid-November deadline.