In its annual summary of regulatory and examination priorities, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) signaled that it will aggressively pursue market misconduct. The January 11, 2013 report follows closely on FINRA's recent announcement of the increased high profile regulatory and disciplinary actions it brought in 2012. Member firms should carefully review their compliance policies and procedures in light of FINRA’s stated areas of focus.

Consistent with its mission of protecting investors by ensuring that the securities industry operates fairly and honestly, FINRA’s priorities focus heavily on retail investors as well as supervisory issues and regulation and operations of increasingly complex systems, products and markets.