The SEC has announced that Transamerica entities, including investment advisers Aegon USA Investment Management, Transamerica Asset Management, Inc., Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., and affiliated broker-dealer Transamerica Capital Inc., have been ordered to refund $97 million to its retail investors.
It is inevitable that advisors have certain clients who have a high percentage of their portfolio in cash because they are reluctant to purchase equity investments. This caution likely stems from the market meltdown during the 2008 financial crisis. Even though these fears are understandable, clients typically cannot hold onto cash their entire lives unless they are extremely wealthy.
UBS Wealth Management has announced that its 6,900 advisors will be able to keep their payout grid and other key components of their compensation plan in 2019. Moreover, according to UBS, the firm is only intending to make minor changes to its 2019 compensation plan.
In separate enforcement actions, the SEC and FINRA have censured and fined the Syracuse, New York-based firm, Cadaret Grant & Company, Inc., for its failure to properly supervise the sale of complex products.
Barred North Dakota investment adviser, Kevin Wanner has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud and money laundering.
A former Securities America broker has won his expungement request to clear his record of 24 customer complaints tied to a single annuity product.
The SEC has announced that it will pay two unidentified whistleblowers a combined $54 million for their roles in providing information that led to an enforcement action.
According to a recent court filing, Morgan Stanley is attempting for the third time to force private arbitration against a former advisor who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the firm last December in New Jersey federal court.
The SEC has charged former Raymond James & Associates branch manager, Joel Burstein in Florida federal court for aiding and abetting the misuse of investor money flowing through customer brokerage accounts.
In June, approximately a dozen female executives in Wells Fargo’s management division gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss their frustration over how the firm has handled issues relating to gender discrimination and gender inequality. 12 out of the 45 female regional managers of Wells Fargo’s wealth management division attended the meeting.
