National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)

The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) was a private, nonprofit, self-regulatory organization to which nearly all brokerage firms doing business in the United States were required to belong. Including more than 5,200 firms with almost half a million employees, the NASD’s board largely came from member securities firms. Its purpose was to enforce practices that protect investor rights and help maintain efficient and fair markets. As such, the NASD was the largest self-regulatory organization in the country. The NASD regulatory activities included supervising and disciplining broker-dealers, analysis and oversight of over-the-counter market activities, and providing arbitration and mediation for most of the disputes in the industry. The NASD was empowered to take disciplinary actions. These included imposing fines and, in some extraordinary circumstances, even ...