Friday, March 22, 2013
Lack of Supervision at LPL Financial
The New York Times had a front page article in its March 21, 2013 edition concerning the rise of non-traditional brokerage firms and their lack of supervision over their financial advisors. These new independent brokerage firms are coming under increased scrutiny by securities regulators because the stockbrokers associated with them act more like contractors than employees. This makes it much more difficult for the independent brokerage house to maintain proper compliance procedures to ensure that their stockbrokers are properly advising their customers. In particular, the article focuses on the abuses and sanctions imposed on the fourth largest brokerage firm in the United States, LPL Financial, came to a $2.5 million settlement with the State of Massachusetts in February for what the secretary of the commonwealth called a "complete lack of supervision" of its stockbrokers. http://nyti.ms/Yv4346
Helpful Investor Resources
Welcome to my blog page. In this blog, my goal is to provide news and information on recent developments concerning investor rights and recovery of losses due to various kinds of misdeeds by financial advisors and brokerage firms. My law office concentrates in representing investors who have lost their savings because of securities fraud and stockbroker misconduct.
In addition to the information that can be found on my website (www.spettlaw.com), there are several other websites I recommend where investors can find reliable information to ensure they are getting proper financial advice. The regulatory agencies that act as the investing public’s watchdogs have websites that are very useful to those who want to become informed and educated about investing and to be alerted about pitfalls in the securities markets.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) -- a private, independent, non-governmental organization which regulates its member brokerage firms and exchange markets – has a comprehensive website (www.finra.org/Investors) that provides investor education and announcements about the securities industry, including FINRA BrokerCheck®. For free, anyone can use this search tool to look up a stockbroker’s professional background, including any publicly recorded complaints and regulatory actions against the broker.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the division of the federal government whose mission is to protect investors, created a website dedicated to investor education and research (www.investor.gov). The website is a good resource for investors seeking answers to many questions about securities and the financial markets. For example, the website recently posted a bulletin by the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy entitled “13 Things Everyone Should Know About Investing.”
Two other reliable websites for education and research are those of the Investor Protection Institute (www.investorprotection.org) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (www.nasaa.org).
In addition to the information that can be found on my website (www.spettlaw.com), there are several other websites I recommend where investors can find reliable information to ensure they are getting proper financial advice. The regulatory agencies that act as the investing public’s watchdogs have websites that are very useful to those who want to become informed and educated about investing and to be alerted about pitfalls in the securities markets.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) -- a private, independent, non-governmental organization which regulates its member brokerage firms and exchange markets – has a comprehensive website (www.finra.org/Investors) that provides investor education and announcements about the securities industry, including FINRA BrokerCheck®. For free, anyone can use this search tool to look up a stockbroker’s professional background, including any publicly recorded complaints and regulatory actions against the broker.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the division of the federal government whose mission is to protect investors, created a website dedicated to investor education and research (www.investor.gov). The website is a good resource for investors seeking answers to many questions about securities and the financial markets. For example, the website recently posted a bulletin by the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy entitled “13 Things Everyone Should Know About Investing.”
Two other reliable websites for education and research are those of the Investor Protection Institute (www.investorprotection.org) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (www.nasaa.org).
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