FINRA announced today that it would file a rule proposal in October to make all arbitrators public, killing off the one remaining industry person on arbitration panels.

Industry insiders say the move is an attempt to head off any action by the SEC to make arbitration in securities industry disputes non-mandatory. Under the Dodd-Frank legislation, the SEC was given the authority to make such a change, which could open securities firms up to much higher litigation costs.

My very short blog on it, here:

http://blog.registeredrep.com/reformation/2010/09/28/finra-to-propose-all-public-arbitrators/