On November 13, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority requested comment on a proposed rule that would allow member firms to conduct remote inspections of certain “qualifying offices,” in lieu of a physical, on-site inspection. The proposal would allow member firms to adopt policies and procedures to determine whether a given location could be deemed a “qualifying office” based upon the factors set forth in Rule 3110.12 and upon whether any associated person conducting business from that office has had a Form U4 disclosable event. Remote inspections would be subject to the same qualitative standards as on-site inspections.

The rule proposal is available here.