The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is expanding its BrokerCheck service to permanently include information on final regulatory actions brought against brokers who have left the industry.

Under the existing system, BrokerCheck provides records of brokers currently employed in the industry, with a broker’s record becoming unavailable to the public two years after he or she leaves the industry.

But, FINRA has gained approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to expand the BrokerCheck service beginning November 30. That’s when a broker’s record of final regulatory actions—such as bars, suspensions and fines imposed by the SEC, FINRA, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, state securities’ regulators and other government agencies—will be made permanently available whether he or she continues to be employed in the industry or not.

Other information that is available via BrokerCheck while a broker is employed by the industry—including customer complaints against the broker and prior arbitrations—will not be made public for former brokers. This has led to criticism that the change does not go far enough. Scott Shewan, the president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, says all relevant information about former brokers should be made public. “It’s clearly relevant if a former broker had a record of customer complaints. It shows a pattern and a failure to supervise,” he says. “You can get this information for brokers who have stayed in the industry, but the really bad ones are usually the ones who have left.”

However, FINRA maintains it’s an important step for investor protection. “Individuals previously barred by FINRA and other regulators have surfaced in a number of recent frauds in other parts of the financial industry that cost unsuspecting investors millions of dollars,” Richard Ketchum, FINRA’s chairman and chief of executive officer, said in a statement. “It has never been more critical for investors to research the backgrounds of the financial professionals they deal with than it is today.”

BrokerCheck can be accessed free of charge by investors and others through FINRA’s website.