FINRA Wants to Rewrite the Rulebook on Broker-Dealer Communications — Here's What's Actually Changing
Regulatory Notice 26-14 proposes the biggest overhaul of Rule 2210 in years: risk-based supervision instead of blanket pre-use approval, a technology-neutral framework built for AI-generated content, and two filing rules getting trimmed back. Here's the plain-English breakdown compliance teams need.
Why FINRA Is Doing This Now
Rule 2210 sorts written communications into three buckets: retail communications (more than 25 retail investors in 30 days), correspondence (25 or fewer), and institutional communications. Retail communications currently need sign-off from a qualified principal before they go out, with only a few carve-outs.
That model worked when "communications" meant brochures and print ads. It strains under the weight of modern channels, where a single firm's social presence can generate thousands of posts a day — many AI-drafted, many interactive rather than static. On July 9, 2026, FINRA released Regulatory Notice 26-14 in direct response to that mismatch.
Replacing Mandatory Pre-Use Approval With Risk-Based Supervision
Current Rule
- Qualified principal must approve nearly every retail communication before first use
- Narrow carve-outs for "interactive" social media and non-promotional posts
- Static vs. interactive line drawn per post — even though a static post can turn interactive the moment someone comments
Proposed Rule
- Firms build written procedures, sized to their business, to decide which communications need pre-use approval at all
- Anything not requiring pre-use review still needs training, documentation, and ongoing surveillance
- Static-vs-interactive distinction eliminated entirely — risk drives review, not format
The Eight Risk Factors Firms Would Weigh
FINRA's list is non-exhaustive, but it's the starting template every firm should be drafting against right now.
AI Gets Folded Into the Same Framework — Not a Separate Rule
Notice 26-14 doesn't create AI-specific requirements. FINRA's rules stay technology-neutral: firms are fully responsible for a communication's compliance regardless of whether a human or an AI tool drafted it. The real problem being solved is speed and volume — applying mandatory pre-use principal review to AI-generated retail content is often unworkable given how fast and how much these tools can produce.
Filing Requirements Get Trimmed in Two Places
1. The New-Member Filing Clock Gets Reset
Today, a new member's obligation to file retail communications 10 days before first use runs from its CRD effective date. FINRA's own data show that clock is often meaningless in practice.
- 40% filed within 90 business days of becoming a member
- 60% filed 91+ business days after their CRD effective date — some well over 100 days
The proposal would start the one-year filing-review clock on the date of the new member's first filing instead — so the review period actually captures a full year of real communications activity.
2. Investment Company Performance Rankings Move to Post-Use Filing
Retail communications about registered investment companies with self-published performance rankings currently must be filed — and held back from publication — before first use. The proposal shifts these to the standard post-use window (within 10 business days), matching how other investment-company communications are already handled.
FINRA reads that gap as a sign that the extra pre-use friction on ranking filings "isn't buying much extra protection." It's the empirical anchor for the whole proposal — and exactly the kind of data point FINRA is asking commenters to bring more of.
Aligning Broker-Dealer and Investment Adviser Recommendation Standards
Rule 2210(d)(7) currently layers on detailed disclosure obligations for any retail communication that includes a securities recommendation — reasonable-basis requirements, disclosure of market-making or financial interest, and specific rules on touting past recommendations. Much of this traces back to an SEC advertising rule that no longer exists.
The proposal would delete those prescriptive requirements and replace them with a general prohibition on referencing a past specific recommendation unless it's presented fairly and in balance — leaning on Rule 2210's existing content standards to do the rest. The goal: bring broker-dealer standards closer to the SEC's current Investment Adviser Marketing Rule, easing the compliance lift for dually registered firms.
What Isn't Changing
- âś“Core content standards remain: communications must stay fair, balanced, and free of false, exaggerated, or misleading statements.
- ✓Firms remain fully responsible for every communication's compliance — regardless of who, or what, drafted it.
- âś“Retail research reports keep their existing pre-use principal approval requirement.
- âś“Reg BI obligations for recommendations are untouched.
- âś“FINRA's Advertising Regulation Department keeps its general filing and spot-check authority.
Positive Impacts and Open Risks
âś… Positive Impacts
- Real relief from one-size-fits-all pre-use approval on high-volume channels like social and AI-generated content
- Principal review time refocused on genuinely higher-risk communications
- Lower average cost per communication for higher-volume firms once procedures are built out
- Faster time-to-market for investment company performance communications
- A filing review clock that actually captures a new member's first year of real activity
- No material loss of investor protection expected, since content standards and firm responsibility hold steady
⚠️ Open Risks
- Upfront costs to build risk-based procedures, training, and surveillance — falling hardest on smaller firms
- Less principal review, by design, of communications deemed lower-risk
- Removing the pre-use hold on ranking/comparison content means misleading claims could reach investors before correction
- Interpretive uncertainty while firms calibrate risk criteria — and potential exam friction if FINRA disagrees later
- AI governance controls are left largely to firms, with no prescriptive hallucination or accuracy-testing requirements
Next Steps for Firms
Tap each item below for what your compliance team should be doing now — comments aren't due until September 11, 2026, but firms that wait for the final rule will be behind.
01Comment while there's still time
Submit comments via FINRA's online form, email, or mail to the Office of the Corporate Secretary before September 11, 2026. FINRA specifically wants empirical data — real filing timelines, social media supervision challenges, or AI tool usage — not just position statements. All comments are posted publicly.
02Inventory current supervision practices
Map today's pre-use approval workflows, static-vs-interactive social media classifications, and any AI-assisted drafting or review tools already in use. This baseline makes it far easier to design — and cost out — a risk-based framework once the rule is adopted.
03Start drafting a risk-based framework
Use the eight proposed factors — product complexity, preparer qualifications, recommendation status, third-party promotion, audience tailoring, performance data, distribution medium, and firm/rep history — as your starting template. Even pre-finalization, this exercise surfaces training and documentation gaps.
04Get ahead of AI governance
If your firm uses or plans to use generative AI for drafting, reviewing, or approving communications, start building vetting, testing, and monitoring processes now — including how you'll address hallucinations and data protection. FINRA has made clear firms are on the hook for AI-generated content today, rule change or not.
05Watch the parallel SEC filing
FINRA has already filed a related proposal with the SEC to align broker-dealer and investment adviser standards on performance projections. Dually registered firms should track both processes in parallel.
06Don't wait for the final rule
FINRA's data shows first-year filers and certain product categories skew noncompliant. Treat this Notice as a prompt to shore up training and review processes now — independent of whether every proposed change survives the comment process.
Need Help Reading the Fine Print?
MCG Consulting helps broker-dealers turn FINRA proposals into practical, exam-ready supervisory procedures — before the comment window closes.
Talk to Our Compliance TeamThis post summarizes FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-14 for general informational purposes and is not legal or compliance advice. Firms should consult qualified securities counsel and their own compliance teams when evaluating how the proposal may affect their supervisory procedures, and should review the full text of the Notice and proposed rule language (Attachment A) before submitting comments.
