A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) panel has ordered UBS Financial Services, Inc. and UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (collectively “UBS”) to pay an investor $200,000 for losses she sustained by investing in UBS’s Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds. This is the first known ruling from a FINRA arbitration…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration panel recently ordered Goldman Sachs Inc. (“Goldman”) to pay $80 million in compensatory damages plus millions more in interest to National Australia Bank Ltd. (“NAB”), resulting in an award likely to cost Goldman (GS) more than $100 million. According to the award and…
The Wall Street Journal says that U.S. prosecutors are getting ready to announce settlements reached with Barclays PLC ( BCS), Citigroup Inc. (C), Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) over allegations involving foreign currency exchange rate rigging. All four banks are expected to…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. said that LPL Financial (LPLA) must pay $11.7M in fines and restitution for widespread supervisory failures involving complex products sales. The self-regulatory organization said that from 2007 up to last month, the firm did not properly supervise certain exchange-traded funds, nontraded real estate investment…
The city of Los Angeles has filed a civil complaint against Wells Fargo Bank (WFC). The lawsuit accuses the bank of encouraging employees to take part in conduct that was illegal and fraudulent, including setting up unauthorized accounts for customers, charging them unwarranted fees, and ruining their credit. The city…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering RBC Capital Markets to pay restitution to customers for supervisory failures that allowed for the sale of reverse convertibles that were unsuitable for them. The firm must pay them about $434,000 plus a $1 million fine. According to the self-regulatory organization, RBC Capital…
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and its Merrill Lynch unit to find out if the lender broke rules established to protect customers accounts. According to sources in the know, over a three-year period, Merrill Lynch used…
Lynnda L. Speer, the widow of Home Shopping Network co-founder Roy M. Speer, is suing Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (MS), a branch manager, and an adviser for over $170 million. Mrs. Speer contends that the firm and adviser Ami Forte took part in excessive trading, abused their fiduciary duty, and…
Financial firm Deutsche Bank (DB) will pay a $2.5 billion fine to regulators in the United States and Britain for its involvement in rate rigging. The German lender also will fire seven of its employees. This is the largest penalty to date against a financial institution over allegations of benchmark…
Michael Oppenheim, an ex-JPMorgan Chase (JPM) investment adviser, was arrested this week and charged with bilking clients of at least $20 million. Oppenheim worked for the firm from 2002 until March of this year. Authorities claim that starting as early as 2011, Oppenheim convinced clients to allow him to take…