FINRA's Brokercheck Update Helps Prevent Investment Fraud

FINRA’s recently enhanced BrokerCheck database can help research your current or future financial professionals.

Using FINRA’s free tool, you can search for information on brokers, brokerage firms, investment advisers, and investment adviser firms.

Earlier this summer, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) updated its BrokerCheck service with enhanced features, making it easier than ever for investors to check up on their brokers and brokerage firms. If you’re not familiar with BrokerCheck already, the service gives you access to a database full of registration, licensing, and background information for financial professionals and their firms.

While the BrokerCheck service has long been a useful tool for investors, with 14.2 million reviews conducted by users in 2011 alone, the updates to the service expand its convenience and usability. Now, with the latest changes, users of the BrokerCheck service can:

• Take advantage of convenient help icons and additional educational materials
• Access information about brokers, brokerage firms, investment advisers, and more from a centralized location
• Search for information by main office, branch office, or ZIP code

If you’ve never used FINRA’s BrokerCheck service before, now is a great time to get started. The service is completely free, and it helps you protect yourself from investment fraud by giving you access to more information about the financial professionals you are dealing with, including access to disciplinary records. To get started, simply visit FINRA’s website to access BrokerCheck.