Section 15 — Funding Portal Member Fees
(a) FINRA shall, in accordance with this section, collect fees that are designed to recover the costs to FINRA of the supervision and regulation of funding portal members, including the membership process and performing examinations, policy, rulemaking, interpretive and enforcement activities. FINRA shall periodically review funding portal fee revenues in conjunction with these costs to determine the applicable fees and rates. FINRA shall publish notices of the fees and adjustments to the assessment rates applicable under this section.
(b)(1) Each funding portal applicant for membership shall be assessed an application fee of $2,700 at the time Form FP-NMA is filed.
(b)(2) Each funding portal applicant for approval of a change in ownership or control shall be assessed an application fee of $500 at the time Form FP-CMA is filed.
(b)(3) If an application pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) or (b)(2) is rejected as incomplete or is withdrawn by the funding portal applicant in accordance with Funding Portal Rule 110(a)(5) or (a)(7), the application fee shall be refunded less $250, which shall be retained by FINRA as a processing fee.
(c)(1) Each funding portal member shall pay an annual gross income assessment determined in accordance with Section 1(c) of this Schedule A. Gross revenue is defined for assessment purposes as gross revenue as reported on Form FP-Statement of Revenue.
(c)(2) The annual fee of a funding portal that is not a member throughout FINRA's full calendar year from January 1 to December 31 shall be based upon the number of quarter years of membership. The proration for a new funding portal member shall include the quarter year in which the funding portal member is admitted to membership. The proration for a funding portal member that withdraws from membership shall include the quarter year in which the funding portal member's withdrawal from membership is effective.
(c)(3) A funding portal member that is a successor organization to a previous funding portal member or members shall assume the unpaid balance of the assessments of its predecessor or predecessors and its next assessment shall be determined, if applicable, upon the assessment data of its predecessors. Whether a funding portal member is the successor organization to a previous funding portal member or members shall be determined by FINRA upon a consideration of the terms and conditions of the particular merger, consolidation, reorganization, or succession. A funding portal member that has simply acquired the personnel and offices of another funding portal member under circumstances that do not constitute the funding portal member a successor organization shall not be required to assume the unpaid assessments of the other member.
(d) A nonresident funding portal member shall reimburse FINRA for any expenses incurred in connection with examinations of the member to the extent that such expenses exceed the cost of examining a member located within the continental United States in the geographic location most distant from the District Office of appropriate jurisdiction.
(e) FINRA shall assess each funding portal member a fee of $100 on the first day and $25 for each subsequent day, up to a maximum of $1,575, that a new disclosure event or a change in the status of a previously reported matter is not timely filed pursuant to Funding Portal Rule 800(b)(2).
(f)(1) A funding portal member shall pay a fee of $1,500 at the time that it files an application to initiate eligibility proceedings pursuant to Funding Portal Rule 900(b). Any funding portal member whose application results in a full hearing for eligibility in FINRA pursuant to Funding Portal Rule 900(b) shall pay to FINRA an additional fee of $2,500.
(f)(2) A funding portal member that continues to associate with any individual subject to disqualification or otherwise ineligible from association with a member shall pay annually to FINRA a fee of $1,500 when such person or individual is classified as a Tier 1 statutorily disqualified individual, and a fee of $1,000 when such person or individual is classified as a Tier 2 statutorily disqualified individual.
(g) A funding portal member shall pay $15 for processing and posting to the CRD system each set of fingerprints submitted electronically by the member, or $30 if submitted in non-electronic format, to FINRA, plus any other charge that may be imposed by the United States Department of Justice for processing each set of fingerprints.
(h) Request for Data and Publications. Where there is no provision elsewhere in the By-Laws for specific fees, the corporation may impose and collect compensatory charges for data from its records or for its publications.
Adopted by SR-FINRA-2015-041 eff. Jan. 29, 2016.