FINRA Revenue and Competitors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. FINRA's mission is to protect America's investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly. All told, FINRA oversees nearly 4,525 brokerage firms, about 163,580 branch offices and approximately 633,390 registered securities representatives. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business-from registering and educating industry participants to examining securities firms; writing rules; enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities; and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. We also perform market regulation under contract for the major U.S. stock markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, NYSE Amex, The NASDAQ Stock Market and the International Securities Exchange. FINRA has approximately 3,000 employees and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with 20 regional offices around the country. In today's fast-paced and complex global economy, FINRA is a trusted advocate for investors, dedicated to keeping the markets fair and proactively addressing emerging regulatory issues before they harm investors or the markets. At FINRA, we believe that the best form of investor protection begins with education. We offer a wide range of information and tools-through our website, the media and at public forums-to help investors protect themselves and better understand the basic principles of saving and investing. Our foundation, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, is the largest foundation in the United States dedicated to investor education. Since its inception in 2003, the Foundation has approved more than $63 million in investor education and protection initiatives through a combination of grants and targeted projects.