Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is an independent, nongovernmental organization that writes and enforces the rules governing registered brokers and broker-dealer firms in the United States. Its stated mission is "to safeguard the investing public against fraud and bad practices." It is considered a self-regulatory organization. FINRA is the single largest independent regulatory body for securities firms operating in the United States. FINRA oversees more than 3,700 brokerage firms, 155,000 branch offices, and nearly 630,000 registered securities representatives, as of 2019. FINRA regulates the trading of equities, corporate bonds, securities futures, and options. Unless a firm is regulated by a different self-regulatory organization, it is required to be a FINRA member firm to do business.