Finra to Probe Broker Conflicts When Exchanges Offer Rebates

The brokerage industry’s self-regulator will spend 2015 looking into whether deals between brokers and exchanges are taking money out of investors’ pockets, regulators said in a letter outlining the year’s oversight priorities. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will also review whether customers get fair prices on electronic bond-trading platforms and how brokers market financial products that are sensitive to interest-rate changes such as alternative mutual funds, structured retail products and bank-loan mutual funds, it said. The letter lays out some of this year’s biggest concerns for Finra, which is funded by the brokerage industry that it polices. The group, which levied about $60 million in fines last year, has faced repeated criticism from other regulators and investors that it isn’t tough enough on Wall Street misconduct. More on Bloomberg here.