Short answer
Under FINRA Rule 2210, a written communication sent to more than 25 retail investors within any 30-day period is a retail communication, and generally needs approval by a registered principal before use. The same message to 25 or fewer retail investors is correspondence, which is supervised under your review procedures. Build the threshold into your email tools.
This is general guidance to discuss with your compliance team, which sets your firm's procedures. Vantage Point is not a law firm.
The categories
| Category | Definition in Rule 2210 | Approval |
|---|---|---|
| Retail communication | Distributed to more than 25 retail investors within any 30-calendar-day period | Generally needs principal approval before use, with some exceptions |
| Correspondence | Distributed to 25 or fewer retail investors within any 30-calendar-day period | Supervised and reviewed under your procedures (Rule 3110) |
| Institutional communication | Distributed only to institutional investors | Under your written supervisory procedures |
What this means for CRM email
- Marketing email and newsletters from HubSpot or Marketing Cloud are usually retail communications. Keep them in draft until approved, and keep the approval record.
- A rep's one-to-one email or a small sequence can be correspondence, but the 25-recipient count applies to the same message across sends in 30 days.
- Set send limits or approval steps in the tool so a "personal" template can't quietly go to hundreds of people.
- Make sure every send reaches your archive.
Practical setup
- Create an approval status property on email templates and campaigns, set by compliance.
- Restrict who can publish or send marketing email to users who check the status.
- Batch review requests weekly so compliance isn't interrupted all day.
- Pre-check drafts against your firm's rules list before sending them to review.
Official documentation
Frequently asked questions
How many recipients make an email a retail communication under FINRA Rule 2210?
More than 25 retail investors within any 30-calendar-day period. A written communication sent to 25 or fewer retail investors in that period is correspondence.
Do retail communications need principal approval?
Generally yes. Rule 2210 requires a registered principal to approve retail communications before use, with some exceptions. Your compliance team decides how the rule applies to your firm.
Salesforce, HubSpot, Anthropic and OpenAI change their products often. Check the official documentation before you rely on a specific setting, limit or price.