FINRA Reports Issuing $48.1 million in Fines in 2022

FINRA reported that it collected $48.1 million in fines, but had $111.4 million in fines-eligible expenditures. FINRA said that the balance between the monies collected and the expenditures was funded from reserves and excess operating results.

In the "Report on Use of 2022 Fine Monies," FINRA said that the monies collected are allocated towards fines-eligible expenditures, including capital initiatives, investor education, employee training and as needed support for FINRA's reserves. FINRA explained that the fines-eligible expenditures include four categories:

• capital initiatives or nonrecurring strategic expenditures that support FINRA’s regulatory oversight;
• activities that promote (i) investor education or (ii) FINRA employee training;
• capital initiatives as a result of new legal or audit requirements; and
• support for FINRA’s reserves if reserve levels threaten FINRA being unable to follow through on regulatory obligations.

For 2022, FINRA identified Expenditures of (i) $89.2 million for capital initiatives to promote regulatory oversight and (ii) $22.2 million for investor education and employee training. FINRA stated that it will fund the $111.4 million of identified Expenditures using (i) the $48.1 million collected from 2022 fines and (ii) $63.3 million from reserves and excess operating results.