Are the SEC and FINRA moving to the Metaverse?

Are the SEC and FINRA setting up shop in the metaverse? Not quite yet, but we stress yet! Like private sector businesses, U.S. financial services regulators are increasingly exploring what the metaverse, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) mean for their registrants’ businesses and also for the means and methods of regulating them. 
One noteworthy example: FINRA recently announced that it is developing “Xpand Reality,” an AR-based app for investor education. FINRA also recently proposed allowing its members to remotely satisfy their internal office inspection obligations without an on-site visit.  For their own part, FINRA and SEC staff largely remain in work-from-home status (although this may change with a post-summer return to “normal”).
Our guess is that it is only a matter of time before regulators utilize elements of AR, VR, and the metaverse to conduct remote exams — but that is likely several years away. What is more likely in the near-term is that many financial industry firms will develop a metapresence in search of increased efficiency and greater engagement with customers and personnel. When this happens, regulatory exams, whether in-person or remote, will encompass firms’ virtual footprints. Regulators will likely apply existing regulatory guidance and frameworks early on, but may eventually develop new rules and expectations over time to align with the advancement of technology.  
Firms can and should be “thinking in 3D” (more on that below) early and often so they and their personnel are prepared for that virtual knock on the door.

Full story here