FINRA recently announced that its investigative priorities for 2016 include seniors and vulnerable investors, an area to which they have already devoted considerable attention http://www.finra.org/newsroom/2016/finras-2016-focus-supervision-liquidity-and-securities-firms-culture. This initiative is in response to feedback derived from an exclusive Seniors Helpline. In 2015 FINRA launched a toll-free helpline service that took more than 2,500 calls from senior citizens and aging investors between April and December 2015. FINRA helped investors recover nearly $750,000 in voluntary reimbursements from firms. (here's a link to the Seniors Helpline http://www.finra.org/investors/finra-securities-helpline-seniors and another to FINRA's year-end report on its helpline for Seniors https://www.finra.org/newsroom/2015/finra-releases-report-its-securities-helpline-seniors.)

FINRA's approaches and decisions are influential in Canada, so their approach to this area merits close attention.

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