What is FINRA Rule 2210?

Definition

FINRA Rule 2210 governs how member firms communicate with the public. It sorts communications into categories (correspondence, retail communications, institutional communications), sets approval, filing and recordkeeping requirements for each, and sets content standards: communications must be fair and balanced and can't be false, exaggerated or misleading.

FINRA's Regulatory Notice 24-09 points to its guidance that the content standards apply whether a communication is generated by a human or a technology tool.

Why it matters for advisors

For broker-dealers and dually registered reps, every AI-drafted social post, email or market commentary is a communication under Rule 2210. The tool doesn't change the category or who's responsible.

FINRA's advertising FAQs address supervising chatbot communications and AI-created communications, which is the place to start for website chatbots and AI content programs.

Keep an eye on what the tool adds on its own. AI drafts often include confident projections, superlatives or claims about guarantees that a principal would catch in review. Building a checklist of those patterns makes review faster.

Example

A rep uses an AI tool to draft a market-update email to all clients. Because it goes to more than 25 retail investors, the firm treats it as a retail communication and routes it for principal approval.

Watch out for

AI makes it easy to send many personalized versions. Personalization doesn't turn a retail communication into correspondence; check how your firm classifies it.