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