On July 30, 2007, after being granted approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) commenced operations.[FOOTNOTE 1]
Resulting from the combination of the member-related regulatory functions of NASD and the NYSE Group Inc. into a new self-regulatory organization (SRO), which was originally announced in November 2006, FINRA is the largest nongovernmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. It oversees nearly 5,100 brokerage firms, about 173,000 branch offices and more than 665,000 registered securities representatives.[FOOTNOTE 2]
