FINRA Advertising Review for Advisor Websites: What Gets Flagged and How to Speed It Up

If you are a registered representative of a broker-dealer, or dually registered as a rep and an investment adviser, your website does not go live when it is finished. It goes live when compliance approves it. For many advisors, that review is the slowest part of the whole project. Understanding what reviewers look for, and building with it in mind from the first draft, is the difference between a few days of back-and-forth and a few months.

Why your website falls under FINRA rules

FINRA Rule 2210 governs how member firms and their reps communicate with the public. It sorts communications into three groups. Correspondence goes to 25 or fewer retail investors within 30 days. Institutional communications go only to institutional investors. Everything else written that reaches more than 25 retail investors in 30 days is a retail communication.

A public website reaches far more than 25 people, so it is a retail communication. That brings the rule's strictest requirements into play.

Principal approval comes first

Retail communications must be approved by a qualified registered principal of your broker-dealer before they are used. In practice, that means your firm's compliance or advertising team reviews every page, and often every later change, before it is published. Many broker-dealers also require reps to use an approved website vendor or to submit sites through a specific review system.

New member firms face an extra step. For their first year of FINRA membership, retail communications in public media generally must be filed with FINRA's Advertising Regulation Department at least 10 business days before first use. Most individual reps are not in this position, but breakaway advisors forming a new broker-dealer should plan for it.

The content standards reviewers apply

Rule 2210 requires communications to be fair and balanced and to give a sound basis for evaluating the facts. Reviewers flag anything that is false, exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory, or misleading. On advisor websites, the same issues come up again and again:

• Promissory language. "We will help you retire on time" or "secure your financial future" promises an outcome. Reviewers will ask you to soften or remove it.
• Projections. Communications generally cannot predict or project performance or imply that past results will repeat. Hypothetical illustrations of math, like compounding examples, are treated differently but still need care.
• Unbalanced benefits. Describing a product's upside without its risks, costs, or limits will come back with comments.
• Superlatives. "Best," "top," and "leading" need support you can document, or they go.
• Missing firm name. Retail communications must prominently disclose the member firm's name, along with any required securities disclosure your broker-dealer specifies.

Testimonials work differently under FINRA

FINRA's testimonial rules are not the same as the SEC Marketing Rule. A testimonial about investment advice or performance must disclose that it may not represent other customers' experience, that it is no guarantee of future success, and, if more than $100 was paid, that it is a paid testimonial. If you are dually registered, a single testimonial may need to satisfy both sets of rules. Our guide to testimonials on advisor websites covers the SEC side.

The BrokerCheck link

Member firm websites must include a readily apparent reference and link to FINRA BrokerCheck on the initial page meant for retail investors and on any page profiling registered people who serve retail investors. Many broker-dealers apply the same standard to their reps' personal sites. Put it in the footer and on every team bio page and it will not come up in review.

Static content versus interactive posts

FINRA's guidance on social media distinguishes static content, such as your website pages or a LinkedIn profile, from interactive content, like real-time comments. Static content needs approval before use. Interactive posts are supervised like correspondence. Your website is static, so treat every page as something that must be approved before it changes.

Records

Your broker-dealer must keep copies of retail communications, the dates they were used, and who approved them. That is another reason to keep website changes organized and documented rather than editing on the fly.

How to get through review faster

• Ask your broker-dealer for its website policy, required disclosures, and approved language before design starts.
• Write copy that describes what you do, not what clients will achieve.
• Remove superlatives and any number you cannot document.
• Place the firm name, securities disclosure, and BrokerCheck link in a consistent footer.
• Submit the full site at once, in a clean format your reviewer can annotate.
• Keep a change log so later updates go through as small, quick reviews.

Advisors who start with their firm's rules rarely get stuck in review cycles. Those who start with design and add compliance at the end often do. We build sites for reps and dually registered RIAs with those rules in mind from the first wireframe, so they are ready for compliance review, not rebuilt after it. Producers with variable products should also read our guide to insurance and annuity marketing rules.

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Your broker-dealer's policies may be stricter than FINRA's rules. Confirm any specific requirement with your firm's compliance department before you publish.