More On Legal & Compliance
from The Advisor's Professional Library- Advertising Advisor Services and Credentials Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act contains the anti-fraud provision of the statute and ensures that RIAs’ advertising and marketing practices are consistent with the fiduciary duty owed to clients and prospective clients.
- Agency and Principal Transactions In passing Section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act, Congress recognized that principal and agency transactions can be harmful to clients. Such transactions create the opportunity for RIAs to engage in self-dealing.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) brought more enforcement actions against broker-dealers through April 2011 than in the same period for the past three years, according to a Reuters report.
According to Bradley Bennett, the BD regulator's enforcement chief, FINRA has brought 449 cases through April 30, the highest amount for this four-month period since 2007. FINRA also has levied $14.5 million in fines, an increase from the same period last year, Bennett said during a May 18 Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association luncheon in New York.
By comparison, Reuters notes that, according to Bennett, FINRA brought 1,310 disciplinary actions and levied fines totaling $42.5 million for all of last year, compared with 1,158 actions and $48 million of fines in 2009.
Bennett also noted during the luncheon that the bulk of FINRA’s work, 70% to 80%, involves holding brokers accountable for basic rules, from mailing investment disclosures and vetting customers to protecting the privacy of client information.
In a related note, FINRA on May 15 launched the FINRA Disciplinary Actions Online database, a Web-based searchable system allowing investors to access brokers’ disciplinary actions via FINRA’s website at www.finra.org.
