Earlier this year, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority released its 2019 Annual Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter. These published priorities, together with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations' 2019 examination priorities, furnish broker-dealers and other securities market participants with a non-exhaustive list of areas that each regulator plans to prioritize in the year ahead as part of its respective examination activities.

This White Paper provides an overview of the notable aspects of both regulators’ examination priorities that are particularly relevant to broker-dealers and suggests ways that broker-dealers can prepare for examinations on those topics.