FINRA Rule 2210 in Plain English: Communications With the Public
The three kinds of communication, who approves what, the October 2026 change on projections, and what FINRA keeps finding.
- FINRA Rule 2210 governs what a member broker-dealer and its registered representatives write to the public: ads, websites, social posts, emails and texts.
- It sorts every message by audience: correspondence reaches 25 or fewer retail investors in 30 days, a retail communication reaches more.
- A principal approves most retail communications before first use, and new member firms file them with FINRA during their first year.
- Nothing may be false, exaggerated, promissory or misleading, and since an SEC approval on October 15, 2026, projections are allowed under conditions.
Who the rule applies to
Rule 2210 binds FINRA member firms and the people associated with them, which means broker-dealer registered representatives.
A stand-alone RIA answers to the SEC Marketing Rule or to its state instead.
Dual registrants carry both, which is why this rule matters to so many advisors who think of themselves as planners.
The three kinds of communication
Everything turns on who receives the message, not on the channel it travels through.
A single email to a prospect is correspondence.
The same email sent to 300 seminar registrants is a retail communication, and so is a website, a social media profile or a text template sent to a list.
Who approves what, and when
For a retail communication, an appropriately qualified registered principal must approve it before the earlier of its first use or its filing with FINRA.
There are exceptions, and the one that matters most to advisors covers communications that make no financial or investment recommendation and promote no product or service of the firm.
Those can skip pre-approval, as long as the firm supervises them the way it supervises correspondence.
Beyond the first year, FINRA says all firms are subject to filing requirements for specified retail communications depending on their content.
Communications that recommend nothing and promote nothing are excluded from filing, and so are previously filed pieces used without material change.
Whether a message "promotes a service" is your principal's call, and an invitation to meet about your services is a reasonable thing to treat as promotion.
What any communication may say
Rule 2210(d) applies to all three categories.
- Fair and balanced: based on fair dealing and good faith, with a sound basis for evaluating the facts.
- No false, exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory or misleading claims, and no omission of a material fact that would make the rest misleading.
- Footnotes only if they do not hide anything: a legend or footnote is allowed only where it does not get in the way of the reader's understanding.
- Comparisons: any comparison of investments or services in a retail communication discloses all material differences.
- Your firm's name: every retail communication and every piece of correspondence must prominently disclose the member firm's name.
- Testimonials: about advice or performance, they must say they may not be representative and are no guarantee, and that they were paid if more than $100 was paid.
| Wording | Why it fails | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| "You'll retire five years earlier with us." | A promise about an outcome nobody controls | Promissory claim, 2210(d)(1)(B) |
| "Our clients never lose money." | Exaggerated, and unbalanced without risks | 2210(d)(1)(A) and (B) |
| "Hi, this is Pat, got a minute?" | No firm name in a message to many people | Member name, 2210(d)(3) |
| "A client says we changed her life." | Testimonial without the required disclosures | 2210(d)(6) |
| "This is Pat with [firm]. Would a planning meeting this month be useful?" | Passes: names the firm, promises nothing | Still a retail communication if sent to more than 25 |
The October 2026 change: projections
For years, Rule 2210(d)(1)(F) barred communications from predicting or projecting performance, with narrow exceptions such as investment analysis tools and research price targets.
FINRA filed a change on February 10, 2026, and the SEC approved it on October 15, 2026, in Exchange Act release 34-106675.
A firm may now project performance or give a targeted return for a security, a portfolio or an investment strategy, if it does two things.
- Written policies: adopted and implemented, reasonably designed to make the projection relevant to the likely financial situation and objectives of the intended audience.
- Enough explanation: the criteria and assumptions behind the projection, and its risks and limitations for making investment decisions.
The firm must also keep a record of the source of any projection or targeted return it uses.
FINRA's rule page shows the amended text but, when we checked on November 10, 2026, no effective date, so confirm the start date with your firm before using it.
| Topic | FINRA Rule 2210 | SEC Marketing Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Who it binds | Broker-dealers and their registered reps | SEC-registered investment advisers |
| Approval | A principal approves most retail communications before use | No pre-approval rule; compliance policies govern review |
| Paid testimonials | "Paid" disclosure above $100 | Written agreement and bad-actor check above $1,000 a year |
| Projections | Allowed under conditions since the October 2026 approval | Hypothetical performance allowed under similar conditions |
| Records | SEA Rule 17a-4, with first and last use dates and the approver | Rule 204-2, five years from the end of the fiscal year of last use |
The records you must keep
Retail and institutional communications are kept for the retention period of SEA Rule 17a-4(b).
The record includes a copy, the dates of first and last use, the name of the principal who approved it, and the source of any chart, projection or targeted return.
Correspondence is kept under Rules 3110.09 and 4511, and the names of the person who wrote it and the person who reviewed it must be retrievable.
FINRA's guidance is that what must be kept depends on the content of a message, not on the device or app that carried it.
What FINRA keeps finding
FINRA's 2026 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report lists these findings under communications with the public.
- Influencers: no system to supervise what influencers post for the firm, no approval of their content before posting, and no records of it.
- Apps and notifications: push notifications and social promotions that made promissory claims or left out material information.
- Weak reviews: electronic communications reviewed with inadequate samples or keyword searches, and none in the non-English languages the firm does business in.
- Generative AI: communications drafted with AI must meet the same rules, and chatbot conversations with investors must be supervised and kept.
Among the effective practices FINRA names: defining which digital channels are allowed, blocking the ones that defeat supervision or recordkeeping, and training people before they get access.
Texting your list as a registered rep
A text template sent to more than 25 retail investors within 30 days is a retail communication.
It has to name your firm, promise nothing, go through your principal if it promotes a service, and be kept under SEA Rule 17a-4.
The individual replies that follow are correspondence, supervised under Rule 3110 like any other message.
Our guide to database reactivation covers the rest of a compliant texting program, including telemarketing law, which sits outside FINRA's rules.
Questions advisors ask about FINRA Rule 2210
What is FINRA Rule 2210?
FINRA's rule on communications with the public: it governs the written and electronic communications of FINRA member broker-dealers and their registered representatives, from ads and websites to emails, social posts and texts.
What is the difference between correspondence and a retail communication?
The audience size.
Correspondence reaches 25 or fewer retail investors within any 30 calendar days; a retail communication reaches more than 25 in that window.
Does every retail communication need principal approval?
Most do, before the earlier of first use or filing with FINRA.
Exceptions include communications that make no financial or investment recommendation and do not promote a product or service of the firm, which are supervised like correspondence instead.
What are the FINRA email review requirements?
Under FINRA Rule 3110, firms must have procedures to review incoming and outgoing correspondence, and may use a risk-based approach.
If not every message is reviewed before it goes out, the firm must train its people, document that training, and run surveillance and follow-up.
Can broker-dealers show projected returns now?
The SEC approved a FINRA change on October 15, 2026 that allows projected performance and targeted returns, if the firm has written policies tying them to the intended audience and explains the assumptions, risks and limitations.
Check FINRA's announcement for when the change takes effect.
Do text messages count under Rule 2210?
Yes.
A text is a written electronic communication, so it is correspondence or a retail communication depending on how many retail investors receive it, and it must be kept like any other business communication.
Does FINRA Rule 2210 apply to RIAs?
Not to a stand-alone RIA, which follows the SEC Marketing Rule or state rules.
It applies to broker-dealer representatives, including dual registrants, who can be under both FINRA's rule and the SEC's.
What does a testimonial need under FINRA Rule 2210?
A testimonial about investment advice or performance must prominently disclose that it may not be representative, that it is no guarantee of future results, and, if more than $100 was paid, that it was paid.
The simplest message to approve
The rule is principles-based, which in practice means the shorter and plainer the message, the less there is to argue about.
A message that names your firm, asks one question and promises nothing is about as easy as a retail communication gets for a principal to approve.
At Pipenomics we text the prospects already on your list, in your name and your firm's, with templates your principal approves and every message archived.
You pay only for the calls that actually happen.
A 20-minute call about your list: we look at it together and show you the messages we would send, for your principal to review.
Book a call about your listSources
- FINRA Rule 2210, Communications with the Public, current text as amended by SR-FINRA-2026-004: finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/2210
- SEC Release No. 34-106675, Order Approving a Proposed Rule Change to Amend FINRA Rule 2210, October 15, 2026, 91 FR 66371 (October 20, 2026); FINRA rule filing SR-FINRA-2026-004: finra.org/rules-guidance/rule-filings/sr-finra-2026-004
- FINRA Rule 3110, Supervision, paragraph (b)(4) and Supplementary Material .06 and .09: finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/3110
- FINRA Regulatory Notice 17-18, Guidance on Social Networking Websites and Business Communications, April 25, 2017: finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/17-18
- FINRA, 2026 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, Communications with the Public: finra.org/rules-guidance/guidance/reports/2026-finra-annual-regulatory-oversight-report/communication-with-public
- SEC Marketing Rule, Rule 206(4)-1: see our summary at pipenomics.com/sec-marketing-rule/