FINRA Reports on How It Spent Collected Fines in 2020

FINRA reported that it spent $90.2 million for "fines-eligible" expenditures in 2020, including capital initiatives and strategic expenditures, and activities to educate investors and promote firm compliance. FINRA spent $57 million in collected fines and used an additional $33.2 million from reserves and excess operating results to fund these expenditures.

Specifically, FINRA spent $73.8 million on capital initiatives, including (i) $31.8 million to strengthen the tracking of market activity (e.g., the implementation of Consolidated Audit Trail data for surveillance), (ii) $18.4 million to improve examination, investigation and disciplinary program tools, (iii) $14.5 million to improve the FINRA filing system and (iv) $9.1 million to modernize technology systems.

FINRA spent $16.4 million on education, compliance resources and training initiatives, including (i) $8 million for virtual conferences and boot camps for regulated entities and individuals, (ii) $4.9 million to train its staff and examiners and (iii) $3.5 million to provide investor education programs.