New New Name for Consolidated Regulator

Last March, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers announced that they would combine their self-regulatory organizations (SROs) into a single consolidated oversight body. The idea behind this was to end some of the minor differences that crop up over time between the NYSE's rules and the NASD's rules, and also further separate the regulatory side of what the exchanges do from their business side. Originally, this new organization was to be named the Securities Industry Regulatory Authority (SIRA). However, just recently it was discovered that "Sira" in Arabic means a biography of Mohammed. Of course, it doesn't mean that in English--in English, it just means Tom Cruise's artificial child. But, rather than risk offending anyone, Sira's head Mary Schapiro announced a name change, which you can read here. The new name? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or "FINRA". They decided on "FINRA" rather than the more appropriate "FINIRA" because, of course, "Finira" is a goddess in the religion of Poetology, which I invented when writing a science fiction novel. (Tom Cruise, as you might expect, is a charter member.) Since I was potentially so offended, FINIRAwas out.

But that just leaves one question: Didn't Finra fight Godzilla in one of those 1960s Japanese monster flicks? You remember, the guy in the fish suit who twirled around knocking over the little buildings with his radioactive fins? Anybody?? Buddies with Gamera? Hey, you don't believe me, just Tivo it on Nick at Night or Spike or something. I've even got a picture (see right).