| 30 July 2009

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is a "self-regulatory" organization, and as such we always like to keep an eye on their results. The update about half-way through the year? FINRA estimates they are on track to see a total of 7,750 cases by year's end. This would be about 50% greater than last year, but not as high as 2003 when 8,945 total cases were filed.

Thus far this year 25% of cases have been decided by arbiters and 50% have been settled. The balance were withdrawn. Forty-six percent of the cases this year have resulted in damages awarded to the claimant. This is about average as compared with previous years going back to 2003. Most cases involve either negligence, breach of fiduciary responsibility or misrepresentation.

FINRA was created in 2007 by merging the NASD with the NYSE Regulation arm. FINRA arbitration statistics are available here.

See FINRA's complaint center for more information about filing a complaint.