What gets Finra’s head of enforcement out of bed in the morning?

investmentnews.com:

Last year was a very active year for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., with brokerage firms hit with a 63% increase in fines compared to the previous year, with $89 million in penalties.

But what does the man tasked with leading enforcement at Finra say are the priorities for him and his team in 2024? Sharing his insights in a blog post, Finra executive vice president and head of enforcement Bill St. Louis explains what drives the regulator’s primary aim of investor protection.

The enforcement team’s other key objectives include enhancing the transparency of Finra Enforcement to external stakeholders, increasing efficiency and reducing the time to complete cases, and improving collaboration across its regulatory operations.

Beyond this framework, specific focus is on protecting seniors and vulnerable investors from fraud and misconduct, cases that result in direct harm to investors, and robust treatment of repeat offenders who have a history of misconduct and violations.

Finra is also focusing on:

“Advancing these objectives requires hard work by the talented team of professional investigators, analysts, data analysts, attorneys and operations staff at Finra Enforcement,” St. Louis wrote in his blog post. “We are confident that by diligently pursuing the objectives and keeping our mission of investor protection and market integrity top of mind, we can achieve our goals and collectively do what is right for investors and the market.