The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest independent securities regulator in the United States, on Thursday issued a call for public input on the crowdfunding portion of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.
Enacted April 5 by President Barack Obama, the JOBS Act contains an exemption that legalizes crowdfund investing. The legislation mandates that funding portals must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as an applicable self-regulatory organization (like FINRA) in order to legally conduct crowdfunded securities offerings. FINRA is currently considering the “appropriate scope” of rules related to member firms engaged in crowdfunding.
“While the scope of any FINRA rules written specifically for registered funding portals will be influenced by, and should not be duplicative of, any crowdfunding rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), we have had conversations with SEC staff suggesting that FINRA should consider adopting its own crowdfunding rules,” reads the notice. “To assist in developing its crowdfunding rules, FINRA solicits comment on the specific rules that FINRA should adopt for registered funding portals that become FINRA members.”
FINRA member firms and other interested parties should email their comments to pubcom@finra.org by August 31, 2012. The JOBS Act’s crowdfunding exemption is scheduled to go into effect early next year.
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