Daniel M. Sibears
FINRA
Daniel M. Sibears is an Executive Vice President at FINRA where he is responsible for the Regulatory Operations/Shared Services Department. He is a lawyer and expert on securities regulation, policy, compliance and enforcement. Mr. Sibears also served in private practice, and his legal and management experience includes the Michigan Court of Appeals, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He is a frequent speaker at national financial services conferences and serves as a point person for FINRA with the securities industry, FINRA committees, and domestic and foreign regulators. Upon joining NASD (n/k/a FINRA), Mr. Sibears created and led the national enforcement program and the market surveillance legal function; presiding over investigations and litigation focused on penny stock fraud, market manipulation, excessive pricing, and other abusive business and market conduct practices. He then developed and led a Regulatory Policy team at FINRA. He was the principal draftsperson for policies and rules around diverse topics such as Suitability, Mutual Fund Transactions, Due Diligence and Supervision. Notices resulting from Mr. Sibears' work with a special committee of the NASD Board remain the leading regulatory guidance on the investment advisory activities of registered representatives. He also served on a small staff committee to implement the proposals of the NASD Select Committee on Structure and Governance (also known as the Rudman Committee). Those proposals called for fundamental changes to the procedures followed in NASD's disciplinary program, the establishment of new offices within NASD, and the refocusing of priorities within existing offices. With the founding of NASD Regulation, Mr. Sibears led the development of another new group known as the District Oversight Department. That function brought uniformity, consistency, and quality assurance to the regulatory programs administered by NASD's de-centralized network of district offices. During this time, Mr. Sibears also revamped the membership application process; including the drafting of a series of new rules and the development of internal business processes. Next, he was named the first Deputy responsible for Member Regulation---NASD's largest examination and investigatory function. In this role, Mr. Sibears was responsible for the operations of Member Regulation and the formation of a Risk Office to advance a risk-based examination program---which he continues to lead. The Risk Office identifies and ingests data that fuel analytics for actionable output used by FINRA coordinators and examiners to plan and execute examinations. While the Deputy of Member Regulation, Mr. Sibears co-led a multi-faceted initiative on mutual fund breakpoints that resulted in significant reforms in the offer and sale of investment company products, compliance tools for salespersons, education for investors, and the global resolution of tens of thousands of overcharges to individual investors. The integration of NASD and NYSE Regulation resulted in another start-up role for Mr. Sibears. Specifically, he formed, and has led for several years, the Shared Services Department within Regulatory Operations. The units within Shared Services include: the Risk Office (encompassing both external and internal risk); Non-Disciplinary Litigation; Regulatory Programs; Fixed Income Regulation; Sales Practice Policy; Oversight Liaison & Counsel; Administration; Regulatory Training; and International. In his Shared Services role, Dan partnered with FINRA's Office of General Counsel on the rule book integration initiative that combined the NASD and NYSE Regulation rules, interpretations, and guidance. Mr. Sibears was a leader in the creation of the securities industry continuing education program, as well as the FINRA Institute at Wharton. He holds a Certified Regulatory Compliance Professional credential from Wharton and serves as an instructor for the FINRA Institute at Wharton. Mr. Sibears is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the National Endowment for Financial Education.
(05/14)
