FINRA Small Firm Conference Takeaways
FINRA’s Small Firm Conference put vendor oversight and practical AI in focus. See how fewer vendors, clear use cases and explainable decisions bring value.
Sean Stapleton 2 min read
Red Oak attended FINRA’s Small Firm Conference in Chicago on October 27 and 28, catching up on regulatory priorities and hearing from the firms they affect. FINRA defines a small firm as one with 150 or fewer registered persons, so attendees ranged from independent firms to member firms within larger groups. Consultants were there too.
Firms Are Stretched on Vendor Oversight
FINRA gave vendor management its own panel, bringing FINRA staff and firm practitioners together on practical approaches to vendor oversight, including due diligence on vendors that add AI to their offerings. From the panel and our own conversations, we gathered that firms are looking for a single resource, since they don’t have the capacity to manage several vendors. Many lean on consultants for due diligence, and a good number of consultants were there looking for providers to recommend.
Firms Are Taking a Practical Approach to AI
Naturally, AI came up throughout the conference, and from our conversations we gathered that the mood was cautious rather than dismissive. Firms are using AI where the use case is clear, waiting to see where it lands elsewhere, and weighing what it costs. The AI in Practice panel brought together practitioners at different stages of adoption to talk about where AI is delivering value and where challenges remain. FINRA also touched on streamlining review and building tools and processes for an AI world that will produce far more personalized content.
How Red Oak Can Help
Firms of all sizes need to review marketing material before it is used and supervise communications such as emails and messages after they are sent. Red Oak covers both with one vendor.
Red Oak’s AI Review checks marketing content against your own handbook and applicable regulation before use, and explains its findings. Mira, our communications supervision agent, covers the emails and messages your people send, most of which are not reviewed in advance. It works from your compliance handbook alongside SEC and FINRA regulations, not a keyword list, and produces up to 98% fewer false positives, so reviewers spend their time on the messages that need judgment. It gives a plain-language reason for each decision and keeps a timestamped record you can export.
Talk to our team about connected compliance, vendor consolidation, and AI you can hold to account.
