At the 2025 FINRA Small Firm Conference, the ACI team was encouraged to see one message come through loud and clear: modernization is not only needed, but already underway. We’ve been advocating for streamlined, practical regulation for over a decade, so we believe this focus aligns directly with the needs of today’s broker-dealer community. As small firms continue to navigate evolving regulatory expectations, this year’s event underscored the growing urgency to bring outdated frameworks in line with modern market realities. For firms that rely on outsourced FinOp support, this modernization is a practical shift that can streamline how compliance functions are managed day to day.
One of the day’s key sessions featured FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook alongside Small Firm Advisory Committee Chair Preston Haxo, offering a candid discussion on how FINRA Forward is incorporating small firm perspectives. The Small Firm Advisory Committee plays a critical role in identifying operational pain points and ensuring that modernization reflects real-world conditions, not just theoretical policy. By bringing small firms directly into the regulatory development process, FINRA aims to make its rules more adaptive to how firms actually operate today. These updates also have direct implications for FinOp outsourcing as firms look for scalable ways to meet evolving reporting and supervisory obligations without adding internal overhead.
FINRA Forward: A Roadmap to Modernization
Much of the conversation at the conference centered on FINRA Forward, the organization’s sweeping initiative to modernize its regulatory framework.
FINRA is taking major steps to bring its rulebook in line with a rapidly evolving landscape where firms are grappling with new technology, innovative investment products, hybrid workplaces and increasingly complex vendor ecosystems. The goal is to maintain investor protection and market integrity while reducing unnecessary operational burdens.
Highlights from FINRA Forward include:
- Outside Activities – Simplified reporting requirements focused on true risk areas (Reg Notice 25-05).
- Gift Rule – Annual limit increased from $100 to $300 per person (Rule 2025-003).
- Capital Acquisition Brokers – A more streamlined framework to support capital formation (Rule 2025-005).
- Corporate Financing – Updated rules to make capital raising more efficient (Reg Notice 24-17).
- Ongoing Initiatives – Planned updates to intraday margin, performance projections and U4 filing efficiencies via CRD.
Key Regulatory Themes and Panel Highlights
Throughout the conference, speakers shared practical insights on navigating today’s evolving regulatory environment. Cyber and vendor risk was a major focus, with discussions highlighting best practices for mitigating vulnerabilities introduced by third-party technology providers. One session covered capital formation strategies, with panelists exploring pathways under Regulation D, A+ and CF offerings and weighing the tradeoffs between public and private capital options and the related compliance requirements under FINRA Rule 2210 and Reg BI.
Remote supervision was another priority, with experts discussing how to implement the Remote Inspections Pilot Program (RIPP) in a way that balances cost with effective oversight. Panelists also examined how to right-size vendor management programs to meet regulatory expectations, without overburdening limited resources – a persistent challenge for small firms.
Sessions on financial crime underscored the growing sophistication of fraud and money laundering schemes, emphasizing the need for enhanced detection strategies and transaction monitoring capabilities. Finally, conversations around electronic communications acknowledged the realities of an expanding digital landscape, offering guidance on how firms can adapt supervision practices to match how registered representatives and clients interact today.
These discussions reinforced a clear throughline: small firms face unique compliance and resource pressures, meaning modernization efforts must be paired with practical, right-sized approaches to be truly effective. For broker-dealer FinOp teams and service providers, many of these themes directly shape day-to-day supervisory and reporting responsibilities.
ACI at the Center of the Conversation
ACI was pleased to engage with clients, peers and regulators throughout the event – including by hosting a networking happy hour that brought together both familiar and new faces across the broker-dealer community. Often, these informal conversations are where the most valuable insights emerge, allowing firms to share experiences and strategies in their own words and in real time. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us – it’s always energizing to connect with so many thoughtful industry voices and exchange ideas outside of the formal agenda.
FINRA’s modernization push is a welcome sign for small firms navigating today’s complex regulatory environment. We’re excited to take the insights and learnings from this year’s Small Firm Conference back to our work as we continue to help small firm clients stay ahead of change through expert outsourced FinOp services.
