Non-Enforcement Matters
House Regulatory Reform Bill Does Not Include FINRA
Provision
On December 11, 2009, the United States House of Representatives
approved legislation that would result in a major overhaul of the
financial services regulatory regime. The much-anticipated vote
broke mostly along party lines, with no Republicans supporting the
bill and 27 Democrats opposing the bill, which passed 223-202.
The investment adviser industry has watched the legislative
deliberations with suspense, in part to learn whether the Financial
Industry Regulatory Agency (FINRA) would gain a larger regulatory
role over investment advisers. FINRA is a self-regulating
organization that has regulatory authority over securities
broker-dealers. An amendment to the House bill was proposed that
would extend FINRA regulatory authority to investment advisers that
are associated with broker-dealers. The amendment's sponsor,
Rep. Spencer Baucus (R-Ala.), proposed the amendment in the
