SIFMA Survey Finds That Investors Are Opposed to FINRA's CARDS Proposal (with Lofchie Comment)

SIFMA announced that a survey found that the majority of investors opposed FINRA's Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System ("CARDS") proposal.

The survey was commissioned by SIFMA and conducted online in November by Harris Poll. Among the 1,103 U.S. investors surveyed, Harris Poll found that over 69 percent opposed CARDS initially after reading a description of the proposal. Additionally, the level of opposition increased to 80 percent after investors read about the range of concerns that were raised regarding the CARDS proposal.

Similarly, over 70 percent of respondents agreed that "the risks of FINRA's proposal outweigh the benefits, even if the data is kept anonymous, because it will create a new singular location that hackers and cyber terrorists can target, putting investors' account activity balances and money movements at risk."

Lofchie Comment: Unless the survey was biased, SIFMA's poll offers yet another reason to pause before implementing a plan opposed by the very investors that FINRA intends to protect. Among others, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized FINRA's proposal because it puts investors' information at risk (see link below). In light of the recent cyber incursion on Sony, FINRA ought to rethink whether to aggregate so much valuable financial data in one place. FINRA should consider the harm that could result from cyber theft, including no less than the loss of confidence in U.S. financial institutions and regulators.

See: Survey Results.
Related news: ACLU Submits Comment Letter on FINRA CARDS Proposal (with Lofchie Comment) (December 5, 2014); SIFMA Expresses Serious Concerns Regarding FINRA CARDS Rule Proposal (December 1, 2014); Congressman Garrett Issues Statement Questioning Need for FINRA CARDS Proposal (October 15, 2014); FINRA Requests Comment on Rule Proposal to Implement CARDS (FINRA Reg. Notice 14-37) (with Lofchie Comment)(September 30, 2014); SIFMA Submits Supplemental Comments to FINRA on Proposal to Develop CARDS (July 1, 2014).