Capital Market Solutions

  The Compliance Landscape: A Turning Point in 2025 The first half of 2025 has been a defining period for financial firms. Regulators — especially  FINRA  — have significantly raised expectations, demanding greater precision, faster reporting, and stronger data governance. Firms across the industry, particularly  broker-dealers , have faced increasing pressure to ensure their compliance systems can deliver accurate and complete data the first time, every time. What once was a matter of routine submissions has evolved into a test of operational excellence. Regulators now expect firms not only to file  CAT  and  CAIS  reports correctly but also to demonstrate control, traceability, and proactive oversight across every data point. At  Capital Market Solutions , we’ve seen this shift firsthand. The challenges are real, but they’ve also sparked innovation — particularly in how firms are using technology like  RSMS (Regulatory Surveillance and...

  The  Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT)  has redefined how broker-dealers manage trade reporting and surveillance in today’s regulatory environment. Designed to provide the SEC and FINRA with a unified view of all orders, quotes, and executions across U.S. markets, CAT has become one of the most complex and data-intensive regulatory mandates in financial history. Yet, despite years of industry adaptation,  CAT compliance  continues to challenge firms. From data accuracy and linkage errors to late submissions and supervisory oversight, many broker-dealers struggle to stay fully compliant with evolving FINRA CAT requirements. The result? Operational strain, rising costs, and increased regulatory risk. This is where  RSMS Vault  steps in — a modern compliance management platform that moves firms beyond reactive error correction and into proactive CAT oversight, automation, and assurance. The Challenge: Traditional CAT Compliance Methods Are Outdated For man...

  In today’s highly regulated trading environment,  maintaining flawless compliance  is no longer just a requirement — it’s a competitive advantage. Firms operating under  FINRA CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail)  obligations face growing pressure to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in every reported trade and order. However, reconciling massive volumes of trading data with internal systems is often complex, time-consuming, and prone to error. This is where  RSMS Comparative Review and CAT-Recon  redefine how modern firms approach regulatory oversight. The Real Challenge Behind FINRA CAT Reconciliation For most broker-dealers, the reconciliation process is more than a checklist. It involves aggregating and validating information from multiple sources — trade orders, routes, allocations, modifications, and cancellations — all while ensuring consistency with  CAT and CAIS (Customer Account Information System)  data. Common challenges f...

    In 2025, regulatory expectations for broker-dealers have evolved faster than ever. With increasing scrutiny from FINRA and the SEC, firms are expected to maintain airtight compliance programs, especially around  risk monitoring, cybersecurity, data governance, and trade reporting accuracy . The latest  FINRA 2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report (AROR)  makes it clear:  risk monitoring is now the foundation of regulatory compliance . To remain compliant and avoid costly penalties, firms must reinforce their programs for: Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) Compliance Customer Account Information System (CAIS) reporting Anti-money laundering and market manipulation surveillance Cybersecurity and third-party risk governance Extended-hours and manipulative trading oversight This blog breaks down FINRA’s risk-monitoring expectations and shows how advanced RegTech solutions like  RSMS and CAIS-Connect  help firms automate compliance, reduce reporting ...