LPL Financial is pushing its new employee affiliation model and other new channels in its continuing endeavor to add financial advisors and customer assets. LPL began marketing its “premium” channel to wirehouse reps in the fall. LPL is encouraged by the growing pipeline of interested advisors.
They say everyone gets their day in court — except maybe Gregory Clark, a former Raymond James advisor whose FINRA arbitration case ended without his testimony, witnesses or evidence.
Raymond James agreed to pay more than $15 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") allegations of collecting excess commissions and failing to conduct adequate suitability reviews. The latest case came after Raymond James settled two client overcharging lawsuits in June for $15 million and agreed to pay disgorgement of $6.9 million in March under the SEC. It's the firm's third major settlement of the year for a combined $37 million.
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has charged Raymond James entities with improperly charging retail investors and charging excess commissions for brokerage customer investments.
HighTower Advisors has announced that the $50 billion RIA will exit the Broker Protocol. HighTower’s exit follows the departure of Morgan Stanley and then UBS in late 2017.
Merrill Lynch has announced that it will expand fiduciary services for 401(k) clients by allowing more financial advisors to manage retirement plan menus on a discretionary basis
Recently, regional firms such as Raymond James, Stifel, Ameriprise, and Janney Montgomery Scott have become a favored destination for many successful wirehouse advisors who have transitioned away from the wirehouses.
According to the SEC, 79 investment firms, including LPL Financial, Raymond James, Oppenheimer, and Wells Fargo have agreed to return more than $125 million to investors for failing to report conflicts of interest in their sale of mutual funds.
Raymond James has terminated seven financial advisors nationwide for improper sales of unit investment trusts (UITs) as a result of a FINRA regulatory sweep over the supervision of UIT sales by broker-dealers across the country. According to the regulatory filings, the financial advisors were based in Michigan, Florida, and Georgia.
A Florida state court judge has denied Raymond James’ motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit that accuses the firm of marking up processing fees up to 10 times on certain accounts.
