The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Tuesday announced the release of an enhanced version of its BrokerCheck service, which allows investors to check out the background of their financial advisors.
The new version is designed to provide investors with quicker, more intuitive access to advisors’ professional backgrounds. It will allow investors to search both the BrokerCheck, and the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD), record of any securities professional, or firm, directly on the FINRA homepage. The search results are also presented in a graphical timeline, providing a more user-friendly view of advisors’ employment status and history, industry registrations, and any reportable events, such as customer disputes or disciplinary actions.
FINRA will also make a new widget available to third party websites, allowing visitors to those websites direct access to BrokerCheck or IAPD reports without having to visit the FINRA or SEC websites.
“Investors using BrokerCheck will encounter a more user-friendly interface that allows them to quickly find information that can help them decide if an investment professional is right for them,” said Derek Linden, FINRA executive vice president, registration and disclosure.