Banks don't want to inspect your home office, so they're forcing hundreds of employees to come in five days a week

Banks are reversing their work-from-home policies, opting to have employees return to the office full-time rather than comply with post-pandemic regulations requiring home office inspections. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules now mandate that some home offices be registered and inspected every three years. Major banks like Citigroup, Barclays, and HSBC, finding the compliance burdensome, are mandating office returns, impacting thousands of employees globally. Despite FINRA's claim that its rules offer flexibility, banks cite regulatory challenges as a reason for the shift back to traditional office settings.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) eased its regulations on workplace inspections to facilitate remote work for banks. However, FINRA is now reinstating pre-pandemic monitoring requirements, which include the mandate that some home offices be registered with regulators and undergo remote inspections at least every three years as part of a new pilot program. These reinstated regulations are part of a broader shift back to more traditional oversight practices in the financial industry, which had been relaxed during the pandemic to accommodate the sudden increase in remote work.