How Firms Are Complying With FINRA 11-39

By: D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

As social media begins to play a more prominent role in the everyday lives of advisors clients, advisors broker-dealers are taking a more active role in training and educating them on the power of social media.  Certainly, prompted by the training and education mandate outlined in FINRA 11-39, some firms view social media as a recruiting and retention tool.  While some of their less than agile larger competition struggle with identifying archiving solutions, they are plunging into what I consider the next frontier – education of the advisor at the “user” level.

There is no question that excellent archiving solutions exist, and there is a size and capability solution to fit all.  The real issue is how do you drive training to the Registered Representative and Advisor level.  Until their trained, the use of social media as a client acquisition and retention tool will be in the cloud, just like the best archiving solutions.

The following may serve as a template for what one cutting edge broker-dealer, Madison Avenue Securities, is doing to satisfy FINRA 11-39 training and education requirements, while at the same time differentiating themselves as an industry leader in the race to harness the power of social media.

I would welcome your comments and examples of what other broker dealers are doing to help their Registered Representatives leverage social media.