Principal Approval and Supervisory Review

What this video covers

• How the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) scales approval by audience, and why retail communications get the microscope while correspondence and institutional communications get the wide-angle lens
• The three-way category distinction that drives every communications question: retail communication requires pre-use principal approval, correspondence and institutional communication rely on written supervisory procedures (WSPs) for post-use review
• Which principal registrations qualify for content approval (Series 24, Series 26, Series 53) and which do not (Series 27 and 28 financial and operations principals)
• The pre-use deadline that runs against the earlier of first use or filing with FINRA's Advertising Regulation Department
• The three narrow exceptions to pre-use principal approval for retail communications: no-recommendation content, online interactive electronic forums, and certain investment-company prospectus advertising
• The exact documentation requirements that evidence principal approval: signature or initials (or electronic equivalent) plus date, with specific name attached, not a generic stamp
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Books and Records retention rule: three years total preservation, with the most recent two years kept easily accessible