$100M Finra Fee Rebate Should Cover Unpaid Arb Awards: Piaba
The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association slammed the industry watchdog’s decision to offer members rebates when roughly $80 million of Finra arbitration awards between 2020 and 2024 went unpaid.
By Alex Padalka | March 25, 2026
The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association has again slammed the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority‘s decision to issue millions of dollars in fee rebates to its members instead of using the funds to cover unpaid arbitration awards.
Last week, the industry’s self-regulator announced a member-fee rebate of $100 million had been approved by its board of directors based on solid 2025 net income.
Like last year’s rebate, which was only $50 million, this year’s move drew criticism from investor advocates, with Piaba president Michael Bixby calling it “a parody of justice” considering that between 2020 and 2024, roughly $80 million of Finra arbitration awards went unpaid and that 37% of awards went unpaid in 2024.
“It’s unconscionable that Finra has now paid out over $150 million to Wall Street, all while innocent Main Street investors are still waiting for justice and to put their lives back together,” Bixby said in a Tuesday announcement from the advocacy group.
Piaba also noted that the rebates followed Finra raising arbitration filing fees for investors, justified by the industry watchdog as necessary for sustainable funding.
“Now Finra is nickel-and-diming Main Street to appease Wall Street,” the group said.
Earlier this month Piaba Executive Director Jennifer Shaw told the House Financial Services committee that the group has “frequent conversations with Finra” about an investor recovery pool that could be tapped to cover the awards, but that the idea has not gained traction.
In its Tuesday statement, Piaba also urged Finra to reject what it called “self-serving arbitration reform recommendations” submitted by the industry lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, halt amendments to Finra’s outside business regulation, stop removing arbitrators who award damages to customers from future cases, and address gaps in its framework for protecting senior investors from financial exploitation.