Five senior enforcement officials at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have become the latest victims in the trend of downturn lay offs.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the layoffs came last month during management restructuring at the agency. FINRA issued a statement that it “continues to look at ways to streamline our management structure to be a more efficient, focused regulator.”
The officials laid off reportedly include Katherine Malfa, vice president and chief counsel of Finra’s enforcement department with nearly 20 years of service; Rory Flynn, vice president and chief litigation counsel, who joined Finra in 1997; Evan Rosser, vice president of strategic planning; and Michael Armelin, an assistant director in the enforcement department.
FINRA, the chief regulator for broker dealers, has been widely reported to have been financially affected by the downturn. The agency is self-funded and its income stream is correlated to broker income. FINRA proposed a rule change to the Securities and Exchange Commission in August last year, suggesting an alternative fee-collection model which is less reliant on broker dealer income.
