FINRA Unscripted

This month, we are marking the 10th anniversary of the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors—an important milestone for a critical service that FINRA provides to protect vulnerable investors and assist harmed investors. On this FINRA Unscripted podcast episode, we will be speaking with leaders from FINRA’s Vulnerable Adults and Seniors Team—Elizabeth Yoka, the manager of VAST Intake, and Michael Paskin, the manager of the VAST Investigations, to discuss the Helpline and its 10 years of protecting investors. We will be focusing on the Helpline results and will provide a few examples of how the Helpline has become an effective conduit for investor protection, and how it has been helpful to member firms.
 

Resources mentioned in this episode:
 

FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors
 

Ep. 152: Fighting Financial Exploitation: FINRA’s Vulnerable Adults and Seniors Team
 

FINRA Rule 2165
 

FINRA Rule 4512
 

FINRA Rule 3241
 

2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report

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As we observe National Consumer Protection Week amid a growing and changing financial fraud landscape, the time is ripe to talk about the ways in which investors can protect themselves from financial scams. 

On this episode, we sit down with Rob Mascio, Director of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, to talk about the latest fraud trends, common red flags to watch out for and practical steps investors can take to safeguard investments. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report

Investor Alert: Social Media ‘Investment Group’ Imposter Scams on the Rise Romance Scams

FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors

BrokerCheck

Market Data Center

Fund Analyzer

Fixed Income Data

FINRA Investor Education Foundation

Protecting Consumers from Fraud

Ep 162: The Victim Experience: When Romance Leads to Crypto Scam

Ep. 168: Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals

Ep. 169: Unpacking the 2025 Regulatory Oversight Report

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As the financial industry continues to evolve, it's important to stay ahead of emerging risks and trends. On this episode of FINRA Unscripted, the leaders of FINRA's new Strategic Intelligence and Analytics (StratIntel) team discuss how they are working to identify and analyze these industry developments.

On this episode, we sit down with the leaders of the StratIntel team: Senior Vice President of Data and Analytics for Member Supervision Jim Reese, and his two Vice Presidents, Brita Bayatmakou and Clint Johnson. The three share insights on how this new team is evolving FINRA's approach to intelligence gathering and risk monitoring, and the innovative ways they are using data and analytics to support FINRA's mission of investor protection and market integrity.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

2025 Regulatory Oversight Report

3110. Supervision

Episode 168: Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals

Episode 169: Unpacking FINRA’s 2025 Regulatory Oversight Report

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As a self-regulatory organization, information sharing is key to FINRA's pursuit of its mission of investor protection and market integrity. The 2025 FINRA Regulatory Oversight Report provides just that: Critical insights to help firms strengthen their compliance and protect investors.

On this episode, hosted by Member Relations and Education Vice President Kayte Toczylowski, FINRA’s regulatory leaders— Executive Vice President and Head of Member Supervision Greg Ruppert, Executive Vice President and Head of Market Regulation and Transparency Services Stephanie Dumont, and Executive Vice President and Head of Enforcement Bill St. Louis—join us to dive into the report’s takeaways and insights for member firms.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

2025 Regulatory Oversight Report

SEC Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)

5310. Best Execution and Interpositioning

Reg Notice 20-31: FINRA Reminds Firms of Their Supervisory Responsibilities Relating to CAT

Investor Insights: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud

Episode 168: Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals

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Many of us view January as a time to make a fresh start, and as a time to bid farewell to bad habits. In thinking about your New Year's resolutions, have you considered whether you're making financially healthy decisions?

On this episode, we sit down with Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and Senior Vice President of Investor Education, to uncover the trends and tips investors need to get their finances in order for 2025. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

BrokerCheck

Market Data Center

Fund Analyzer

Fixed Income Data

FINRA Investor Education Foundation

Protecting Consumers from Fraud

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Behind every market transaction lies a wealth of data. But how can we harness this information? 

On this episode, we sit down with two members of the Market Regulation and Transparency Services team, Senior Vice President of Strategic Regulatory Engagement Alex Ellenberg, and Senior Director of Transparency Services Equities Brendan Loonam. They join us to discuss periodic aggregate market data sets, including some new data recently added to FINRA's website, and how FINRA makes this information available to the public in support of its mission of investor protection and market integrity.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

FINRA Data
OTC Transparency Data
NMS Equity and Option Order Routing Reports (SEC Rule 606(a) Reports)
About NMS Equity and Options Routing Reports (SEC 606(a) Reports)
OTC (ATS & Non-ATS) Transparency
Reg Notice 23-10: FINRA Requests Comment on a Proposal to Require Members to Provide Rule 605 Order Execution Quality Reports to FINRA for Centralized Publication
Episode 149: MRTS 2.0: A Redesign for a Rapidly Evolving Market

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This episode originally aired in August 2023. 

In 2022, FINRA developed an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure it is prepared for an evolving crypto asset regulatory landscape and created the Crypto Hub, the Blockchain Lab and the Crypto Asset Investigations Team

On this episode, the first in a three-part series, we sit down with Omer Meisel, Senior Vice President of the Complex Investigations and Intelligence Group, Jason Foye, Senior Director and Head of FINRA's Crypto Hub, and Reema Abdelhamid, a Director with FINRA Enforcement to learn more about the strategy and the role of the Hub and FINRA’s work to advance its mission of investor protection and market integrity.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

FINRA Blog: An Inside Look into FINRA’s Crypto Asset Work

Episode 112: FINRA's Complex Investigations and Intelligence Team & Cyber and Analytics Unit

Episode 138: FINRA’s Blockchain Lab: Regulation and Innovation For The Future

Episode 145: Compliance and Communication: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Targeted Exam

Episode 158: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Work and the Crypto Hub

Episode 162: When Romance Leads to a Crypto Scam

Investor Insights: What Is a Blockchain, and Why Should I Care?

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In the securities world today, there is little daylight between money laundering and fraud. As these two spaces have come to increasingly overlap, FINRA created the Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, to detect and investigate cases illicit finance, market abuse and other fraud. 

On this episode, we sit down with SIU Senior Director Gargi Sharma, and three investigative directors from her team: Kayla Le, Peter Gonzalez and David Byrne. They join us to share how they work to proactively identify and mitigate threats related to money laundering and other frauds.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Reg Notice 21-14: FINRA Alerts Firms to Increase in ACH Instant Funds Abuse

Reg Notice 22-25: Heightened Threat of Fraud

Reg Notice 23-06: Effective Practices to Address Risks of Fraudulent Transfers

2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program

2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report

Investor Insight: Ramp-and-Dump Scams

Investor Insight: Investment Group Imposter Scams

Episode 33: AML in the Securities Industry

Episode 129: Detecting and Preventing ACATS Fraud

Episode 154: FINRA’s High-Risk Representative Program

Episode 157: An Update on FINRA’s Financial Intelligence Unit 

Episode 161: FINRA CEO Robert Cook on Disrupting the Cycle of Financial Fraud

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Gen X is often called the Forgotten Generation given how often they’re overlooked in favor of conversation around boomers, millennials or now even Gen Z. But not today. 

On this episode, Gen X is the one in the spotlight as we sit down Gary Mottola, research director with the FINRA Foundation, Ritta McLaughlin, director of community outreach with FINRA’s Investor Education team, and Jeremy Ko, the 2024 FINRA Foundation Ketchum Visiting Scholar, to dig into the financial health of those born between 1965 and 1980 and, importantly, their perception of their own financial well-being. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

How Gen X Compares Financially to Other Generations: Doing Alright but Feeling Bad

FINRA Foundation National Financial Capability Study

Episode 19: Debunked: 7 Myths about Millennials—the Underinvested Generation

Episode 22: Millennials and Money: How to Get Started on the Road to Investing

Episode 134: Gen Z Investors: A Look at the Attitudes and Behaviors of the Youngest Investors

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Why do we engage with scammers? What makes one person more likely to engage than the next? Of those that engage, what makes someone more likely to lose money? These are important questions to ask – and find the answers to – both as consumers and as an industry with an interest in disrupting the cycle of financial fraud. 

On this episode, we hear from moderator Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher with the FTC, and panelists Marti DeLiema, Assistant Research Professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Duygu Başaran Şahin, a postdoctoral research fellow at the RAND Center for the Study of Aging, and Gary Mottola, research director for the FINRA Foundation, about the latest research into these important questions and learn more about what might stop someone from engaging with a fraud to begin with.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Exposed to Scams: What Separates Victims from Non-Victims

Does One Size Fit All? An Examination of Risk Factors by Scam Type

Fraud Victimization Across the Lifespan: Evidence on Repeat Victimization Using Perpetrator Data

Addressing the Problem of Chronic Fraud Victimization

Vulnerability of Older Adults to Government Impersonation Scams

A Review of Scam Prevention Messaging Research

Protecting Retail Customers from Gift Card Payment Scams

FINRA Foundation Research Center

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