FINRA Unscripted

This episode originally aired in August 2023. In 2022, FINRA developed an enterprise-wide strategy to ensure it is prepared for an evolving crypto asset regulatory landscape and created the Crypto Hub, the Blockchain Lab and the Crypto Asset Investigations TeamOn this episode, the first in a three-part series, we sit down with Omer Meisel, Senior Vice President of the Complex Investigations and Intelligence Group, Jason Foye, Senior Director and Head of FINRA's Crypto Hub, and Reema Abdelhamid, a Director with FINRA Enforcement to learn more about the strategy and the role of the Hub and FINRA’s work to advance its mission of investor protection and market integrity.Resources mentioned in this episode:FINRA Blog: An Inside Look into FINRA’s Crypto Asset WorkEpisode 112: FINRA's Complex Investigations and Intelligence Team & Cyber and Analytics UnitEpisode 138: FINRA’s Blockchain Lab: Regulation and Innovation For The FutureEpisode 145: Compliance and Communication: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Targeted ExamEpisode 158: An Update on FINRA’s Crypto Asset Work and the Crypto HubEpisode 162: When Romance Leads to a Crypto ScamInvestor Insights: What Is a Blockchain, and Why Should I Care? Find us: X / YouTube /LinkedIn / Facebook / E-mail

In the securities world today, there is little daylight between money laundering and fraud. As these two spaces have come to increasingly overlap, FINRA created the Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, to detect and investigate cases illicit finance, market abuse and other fraud. On this episode, we sit down with SIU Senior Director Gargi Sharma, and three investigative directors from her team: Kayla Le, Peter Gonzalez and David Byrne. They join us to share how they work to proactively identify and mitigate threats related to money laundering and other frauds.Resources mentioned in this episode:Reg Notice 21-14: FINRA Alerts Firms to Increase in ACH Instant Funds AbuseReg Notice 22-25: Heightened Threat of FraudReg Notice 23-06: Effective Practices to Address Risks of Fraudulent Transfers2023 Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight ReportInvestor Insight: Ramp-and-Dump ScamsInvestor Insight: Investment Group Imposter ScamsEpisode 33: AML in the Securities IndustryEpisode 129: Detecting and Preventing ACATS FraudEpisode 154: FINRA’s High-Risk Representative ProgramEpisode 157: An Update on FINRA’s Financial Intelligence Unit Episode 161: FINRA CEO Robert Cook on Disrupting the Cycle of Financial Fraud Find us: X / YouTube /LinkedIn / Facebook / E-mail

Gen X is often called the Forgotten Generation given how often they’re overlooked in favor of conversation around boomers, millennials or now even Gen Z. But not today. On this episode, Gen X is the one in the spotlight as we sit down Gary Mottola, research director with the FINRA Foundation, Ritta McLaughlin, director of community outreach with FINRA’s Investor Education team, and Jeremy Ko, the 2024 FINRA Foundation Ketchum Visiting Scholar, to dig into the financial health of those born between 1965 and 1980 and, importantly, their perception of their own financial well-being. Resources mentioned in this episode:How Gen X Compares Financially to Other Generations: Doing Alright but Feeling BadFINRA Foundation National Financial Capability StudyEpisode 19: Debunked: 7 Myths about Millennials—the Underinvested GenerationEpisode 22: Millennials and Money: How to Get Started on the Road to InvestingEpisode 134: Gen Z Investors: A Look at the Attitudes and Behaviors of the Youngest Investors[KK1]Need link Find us: X / YouTube /LinkedIn / Facebook / E-mail

Why do we engage with scammers? What makes one person more likely to engage than the next? Of those that engage, what makes someone more likely to lose money? These are important questions to ask – and find the answers to – both as consumers and as an industry with an interest in disrupting the cycle of financial fraud. On this episode, we hear from moderator Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher with the FTC, and panelists Marti DeLiema, Assistant Research Professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Duygu Başaran Şahin, a postdoctoral research fellow at the RAND Center for the Study of Aging, and Gary Mottola, research director for the FINRA Foundation, about the latest research into these important questions and learn more about what might stop someone from engaging with a fraud to begin with.Resources mentioned in this episode:Exposed to Scams: What Separates Victims from Non-VictimsDoes One Size Fit All? An Examination of Risk Factors by Scam TypeFraud Victimization Across the Lifespan: Evidence on Repeat Victimization Using Perpetrator DataAddressing the Problem of Chronic Fraud VictimizationVulnerability of Older Adults to Government Impersonation ScamsA Review of Scam Prevention Messaging ResearchProtecting Retail Customers from Gift Card Payment ScamsFINRA Foundation Research Center Find us: X / YouTube /LinkedIn / Facebook / E-mail