FINRA proposed amendments to Rules 12402 and 12403 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes, and FINRA Rule 13403 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes, to expedite the arbitrator-selection process. Under the proposed amendments, the FINRA Office of Dispute Resolution would be required to send an arbitrator list, from which the parties would select arbitrators, to all parties at the same time within approximately 30 days of the original date on which the last answer was due. Currently, the parties may agree to extend the due date for the last answer, which pushes back the deadline for when the arbitrator list is required to be sent to the parties. FINRA explained that in many instances, this amendment will result in an "earlier arbitrator appointment and, therefore, an earlier initial prehearing conference at which the hearings are scheduled."
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