The Financial Industry and Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has named Erozan Kurtas as the head of its Advanced Data Analytics group.
In this newly created role, Kurtas will have overall responsibility for enhancing FINRA’s data analytics capabilities. Working closely with departments across FINRA, in particular member regulation – sales practice and member regulation – risk oversight and operational regulation (ROOR), Kurtas and his team will focus on improving how FINRA analyzes and uses the data it currently gathers from firms.
Kurtas will start at FINRA on February 23 as he is currently assistant director, Quantitative Analytics Unit, Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He will report to FINRA chief executive Richard Ketchum and executive vice president for regulatory operations Susan Axelrod.
The Office of Advanced Data Analytics is charged with looking for opportunities to more effectively refine that data to make FINRA an even more efficient regulator.
While at the SEC, Kurtas led the development of a revolutionary software system called the National Exam Analytics Tool (NEAT), which allowed SEC examiners to analyze systematically large amounts of trading data to detect insider trading, improper allocation of investment opportunities and other misconduct. Prior to joining the SEC in 2010, he was a visiting scientist at Arizona State University. He also did stints at Standard & Poor’s, Seagate Technology and Quantum Corporation.
FINRA is an independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States.
