The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. said Tuesday that it fined Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services Inc. $100,000 for falling short on compliance related to options trades in a client's account.
Options are highly complicated trading instruments, and while options trades have recently seen a boom among retail investors, many financial advisers avoid options for retail customers. Finra said last summer that it was launching an examination sweep probing the supervision, communications and diligence surrounding the opening of options accounts.
Berthel Fisher, which is known for selling alternative investments, neither admitted or denied Finra's findings in the settlement. A spokesperson for Berthel Fisher did not return a phone call Wednesday morning to comment.
In August 2015, when it was reviewing a customer's request for approval to trade options in his brokerage account, Berthel Fisher failed to exercise due diligence to ascertain the customer's investment experience and knowledge, in violation of industry rules. And between August 2015 and February 2018, Berthel Fisher, through an unnamed broker, recommended options transactions to the same customer without having reasonable grounds for believing that the transactions were suitable for that customer.
During the same period, Berthel Fisher failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written procedures, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with industry rules pertaining to the suitability of options trading in customer accounts, according to Finra. The firm also failed to enforce multiple provisions of its written supervisory procedures pertaining to options trading.
The "Crypto Mom" departure would leave the SEC commission with just two members and no Democratic commissioners on the panel.
IFP Securities’ owner, Bill Hamm, has a long-term plan for the firm and its 279 financial advisors.
Meanwhile, a Osaic and Envestnet ink a new adaptive wealthtech partnership to better support the firm's 10,000-plus advisors, and RIA-focused VastAdvisor unveils native integrations with leading CRMs.
A former Alabama investment advisor and ex-Kestra rep has been permanently barred and penalized after clients he promised to protect got caught in a $2.6 million fraud.
As more active strategies get packaged into the ETF wrapper, advisors and investors have to look beyond expense ratios as the benchmark for value.
Wellington explores how multi strategy hedge funds may enhance diversification
As technical expertise becomes increasingly commoditized, advisors who can integrate strategy, relationships, and specialized expertise into a cohesive client experience will define the next era of wealth management
