FPA blasts SRO name

The FPA objects to the new moniker for the SRO created from the merging of NASD and NYSE.

The Financial Planning Association is objecting to the newly chosen moniker for the self-regulatory organization created from the merging of NASD and NYSE Regulation.
Just last week, NASD dropped its original name, the Securities Industry Regulatory Authority, because it felt the acronym “SIRA” might offend Muslims because it was similar to an Arabic term used to refer to the biographies of Muhammad.
NASD then dubbed the new organization the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.
But the new name could “inadvertently lead to consumer confusion,” according to FPA spokesman Brad White, by leading consumers to believe NASD had jurisdiction over investment advisers and financial planners.
Advisers and planners are regulated by states and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We’re not demanding a name change, but we think they ought to withdraw it,” he said.
“I would need a degree in psychology to comment on the level of paranoia in this [FPA] press release,” said NASD spokesman Howard Schloss.
“The ‘financial industry’ tagline for a regulator would appear to be a seal of good housekeeping that protects the public in areas of the financial service sector where the NASD has no oversight authority,” said FPA president Nicholas Nicolette, a principal of Sparta, N.J.-based Sterling Financial Planning Inc., in a statement.