Tr?id=566623520170033&ev=PageView&noscript=1

Challenges Persist: Firms Struggle to Comply with Regulation Best Interest

Posted on February 20th, 2024 at 1:26 PM
Challenges Persist: Firms Struggle to Comply with Regulation Best Interest

From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law 

FINRA's annual report for 2024 reveals a concerning trend among broker-dealers, with numerous instances of violations of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI).

According to Think Advisor, the report emphasizes that broker-dealers and advisors continue to make recommendations without a reasonable basis to believe they are in the best interest of retail customers. Moreover, firms neglect to conduct thorough investigations of offerings before recommending them, often relying on past experiences with issuing companies.

Another notable violation involves recommending transactions not aligning with customers' investment profiles, such as those with high cost-to-equity ratios and high turnover. Despite Reg BI's requirement for due diligence on costs, examiners found that consideration of costs is often limited to sales charges, neglecting other relevant fees like product or account-level fees when making recommendations.

Finally, the report highlights instances where firms and advisors recommend complex or illiquid products that contradict the retail customer's investment profile, exceed concentration limits specified in firm policies, or comprise a significant portion of a customer's liquid net worth or securities holdings.

 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, finra

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next
Quotes Bigger

We just wanted to say thanks for your work in helping us get back some of the money we lost. We are not by any means rich, but we have saved some money and we have done so through a tight-fisted approach to most everything we do. So losing a significant chunk of money hurt…especially at a time when everyone else was growing their accounts. We really appreciate the work you did.

Allan and Adele

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

1792610544 Law
October 21, 2026
FINRA Fines and Suspends Former LPL Broker Over Undisclosed Customer Settlement

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined former LPL Financial broker Gregory W.

1792523173 Law
October 20, 2026
FINRA Orders American Portfolios to Pay $1.6 Million Over Unit Investment Trust Supervision Failures

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has ordered American Portfolios, the broker-dealer later absorbed into Osaic, to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution and fines over failures to supervise financial advisors who repeatedly recommended that customers sell unit investment trusts (UITs) before maturity.

1792432258 Law
October 19, 2026
FINRA Bars Former LPL Broker Over Alleged $1.7 Million Customer Theft

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has barred former LPL Financial broker Rudy Anguiano after finding that he converted more than $1.7 million from two customers, according to AdvisorHub.