FINRA, the regulatory body of USA for monitoring fintech trends and research initiatives has formed a Fintech Industry Committee, empowered with enhanced service capabilities and scope of co-ordination activities, it is learnt.
Established as an Innovation Outreach arm of FINRA, the initiative will focus on the ongoing research updates and trends in the industry including the Blockchain specialization areas.
The first move by the Committee would be to arrange a Symposium on Blockchain Technology and the event will be held in New York, 13 July 2017.
A key area of the initiative would be to focus on the recent efforts of the self-regulatory organizations and enhance their powers to hone their talents and add value to the inputs within the sector.
A Webpage that highlights the latest news, technology updates and emerging trends in Fintech and digital investment advice is seen as the first step that would be needed by the Committee to address the issues.
“Finra has long been engaged in discussions about fintech issues with member firms and other key stakeholders,” says Robert Cook, President and CEO, Finra, USA.
“The Innovation Outreach Initiative will enable us to better track fintech developments across the rapidly changing industry environment in order to support innovation in the industry while maintaining investor protection and market integrity.”, he adds in the statement about the new initiative.
Moving fast on the job, FINRA has already identified a team to support the efforts. A cross-departmental team led by its Office of Emerging Regulatory Issues has been constituted to implement the program elements.
The announcement of a Fintech Industry Committee and the development of an enhanced communications strategy via regional roundtables and published research are the other listed items on the agenda that have seen fast progress in the field.
The July Symposium scheduled to take place in New York and which will focus on Blockchain knowhow, has already attracted thousands of enquiries for registration as participating delegates.
The main agenda at the Conference would be to network with, and to exchange thoughts between regulators and leaders in the Fintech industry; and to explore opportunities and challenges in the distributed ledger technology and related areas, within the industry.
