FINRA Gets “A” For Funniest Branding and Double-Speak, Says Industry Watcher

FINRA

When it comes to its own “brand positioning” and the doublespeak corporate messaging used within the collateral of securities industry self-regulator FINRA, the powers that be might be better off spending more time policing itself as opposed to the millions of dollars it spends on policing its brokerdealer constituents, particularly when it comes to beating up BDs whose advertising messages are alleged to be “inaccurate and/or misleading,” according to Forbes writer Ed Siedle.

BrokerDealer.com blog update is courtesy of Siedle’s recent piece “Finra Keeps America Laughing” with extract below from Siedle’s “Financial Watchdog” blog.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) employment advertisement from the Wall Street Journal I read in 2013 was such a hoot that I had to clip it, save it and promise myself I’d write about it someday. The newspaper ad scrap, now yellow, still is a knee-slapping, rib-tickler.

Here’s the hysterical double-speak FINRA used to describe itself in the recruitment piece (with emphasis added on only the most absurd).

“FINRA is an independent, non-government regulator for all securities firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA works to protect investors and maintain market integrity in a public-private partnership with the Securities and Exchange Commission, while also benefitting from the SEC’s oversight. In its role as investor guardian, FINRA is informed, but not influenced, by the industry that it regulates.”

Mama Mia!

For the entire article from Ed Siedle, click here.