Bob Veres Opines Re: A New PROFESSIONAL Organization - What Do You Think?

Bob Veres, long a thought leader in the profession, and publisher of the influential Inside Information newsletter (a must read for financial advisors; well-worth the subscription), recently opined on a possible future path for the profession. See his blog post, "The Way Out of Our Regulatory Dilemma," at www.bobveres.com.

In his article, Bob goes further with an idea I've been circulating - that FINRA is altogether a failed organization, and that the only way to create a true profession is to create a "Professional Regulatory Organization," in which all members adhere to a bona fide fiduciary standard of conduct, peer review is conducted, and other attributes exist.

Yet Bob takes my idea a step further. With his long-standing knowledge of the development of our industry organizations, he suggests the formation of VOLUNTARY (non-profit) professional organization for this purpose. This voluntary organization could, at some future date (i.e., when Congress is ready) morph into a professional regulatory organization appropriately sanctioned by law.

What do you think?

   - Ron

P.S. - Bob refers to a white paper (unpublished), which is being serialized by RIABiz into four articles. The first of these articles can be found at http://www.riabiz.com/a/22918833/why-keeping-finra-from-ruling-rias-is-critical-to-these-firms-the-investor----and-even-the-us-economy. I'm advised that the remaining articles will be published the week of July 8, 2013, by RIABiz.

Should you desire my full, unedited white paper - with footnotes - please e-mail me at RhoadeRA@AlfredState.edu, and I'll be happy to forward it to you.