Firms are thinking critically about the future of the workplace and how to offer flexible work arrangements essential to a diverse and inclusive industry and recruiting the next generation of personnel critical to their operations and compliance with regulations.

The securities industry operates in a highly regulated environment with rules governing the registration and supervision of personnel including financial advisors, supervisors, investment bankers and traders as well as their office locations. These rules are decades-old and based on an industry and investors that relied on paper and in-person interactions. They do not consider technological investments made by the industry to their supervisory programs and customer experiences. SIFMA believes that regulators must work with the industry to update these rules and their related requirements.

To start, we believe that firms should be permitted to perform remote inspections of branch offices using a risk-based approach, which they were forced to do – and did so successfully – during the pandemic. We support the voluntary, three-year remote inspections pilot program proposed by FINRA in August 2022. We further support re-examining rules governing supervision, including the definitions of branch office and Office of Supervisory Jurisdictions.