Regulatory Notice 23-03

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has published a Regulatory Notice (23-03) to announce the 2023 level of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) accounting support fee for FINRA member firms. The fee is collected quarterly whereby a „member firm’s assessment is based on its portion of the total par value of municipal securities transactions reported by all FINRA member firms to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board during the previous quarter“. The total amount to be collected based on the 2023 GASB budget needs is $3,600,875 per quarter for a total of $14,403,500. Based upon current trading volumes and fee waivers for firms engaged in little transactions (allocated fee is less than $25), this year’s fee will range between $0.0038 and $0.0049 per $1,000 par value. FINRA reminds those firms that intend to pass on those costs to clients to properly disclose the expenses to the customers including an explanation (if applicable) that the actual costs may be higher or lower than those assessed to the client.