Brian Kovack, the president and co-founder of Kovack Securities, an independent broker-dealer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who ran for Finra’s board of governors as an outsider three years ago, is running for re-election, he announced Wednesday.
In 2015, he challenged a candidate selected by the Finra Nominating & Governance Committee to run for the position. This time around, Kovack has been selected by the committee to run for re-election.
“I am pleased and honored to have official support for my candidacy from Finra’s Nominating & Governance Committee, which nominated me to run for another term this year,” he said. While Finra has sanctioned his run, it maintains that this does not represent an official endorsement.
He is running for another three-year term for the midsize firm seat on the 24-member board. Three years ago, Kovack said he supported Finra but felt some changes were needed.
He has been endorsed by the Financial Services Institute, as he was last time. The institute aims to promote a healthy regulatory environment for independent broker-dealers and their affiliated advisors.
“I was elected,” he says, “to serve on the board of governors with a clear mandate for reform, in order to ensure that midsize firms and their advisors have the strongest possible voice in Finra’s rule-making and policy processes. Three years later, I’m proud to say that, without question, I’ve helped guide Finra toward greater transparency, efficiency and more open communication on behalf of the firms and advisors I represent.”
He said he has worked with Finra to simplify its examination process and give member firms greater access to general exam findings, and that he’s helped to establish Finra’s Small Firm Helpline, which provides an essential layer of support for small and midsize firms to ensure they receive answers to their questions from Finra.
In his next term, he wants to ensure that any new regulations imposing a “best-interest standard” take into consideration what advisors need to support retail investors in a rapidly evolving landscape.