Finra sees big jump in restitution

Finra, the brokerage industry self-regulator that seeks to have financial advisory firms added to its regulatory domain, said…

Finra, the brokerage industry self-regulator that seeks to have financial advisory firms added to its regulatory domain, said that it ordered members to return a record $34 million to harmed clients last year, a 75% increase from the $19.4 million in restitution it ordered in 2011.

In its annual assessment of enforcement and other achievements, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. said that it also ordered firms and individuals to pay $68 million in penalties, about $4 million less than in 2011. The number of new disciplinary actions Finra began last year increased to 1,541, from 1,488 in 2011, making 2012 the fourth year of increased enforcement activity.

Calling the association the “first line of defense for investors,” Finra chairman and chief executive Richard Ketchum touted the group's switch to a more risk-based examination program last year and its use of cross-market surveillance to better detect manipulative electronic trades.

“Protecting investors and helping to ensure the integrity of the nation's financial markets is at the heart of what we do every day,” Mr. Ketchum said.

LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS

In one November case, Finra alleged that WR Rice Financial Services and its owner fraudulently sold $4.5 million in limited partnership interests to about 100 investors who were told that the investments would pay 9.9% and be invested in land contracts on residential real estate in Michigan.

The owner failed to tell investors that their money actually went to provide unsecured loans to companies that he controlled and that these entities couldn't pay back the loans, Finra said.

The self-regulatory organization referred 692 matters of potential fraud to the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal or state law enforcement officials last year, a 6% increase over 2011.

Financial advisers have fought Finra's claim that it can better monitor advisory firms than the SEC, which now regulates large advisers. Discussion of whether advisers need additional oversight erupted after spectacular investor rip-offs such as the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that was revealed in the final days of 2008.

For its part, the SEC has boosted its enforcement of advisers. In its 2012 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the SEC said that it filed 147 enforcement actions against advisers and investment companies, a 19% boost over fiscal 2011.

In total, the SEC said that it filed 734 enforcement actions last year and obtained $3 billion in fines and restitution for harmed investors.

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