Finra bars former Morgan Stanley manager over expense reports

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.'s probing into expense account reporting violations at member firms has resulted in former Morgan Stanley administrator Barbara Waters being barred from the securities industry. The direct cause of the bar was Ms. Waters' refusal to appear for a hearing into the matter. (More: Finra sanctions Morgan Stanley over UIT sales) Ms. Waters, who managed administrators in the firm's wealth management unit, was terminated by Morgan Stanley in November 2015 over an allegation that a "list of event attendees on employee's expense report incorrectly included one person who did not attend event." According to a report on AdvisorHub, Ms. Waters said she couldn't afford to fight her dismissal or to take the time to work with Finra. She said the case centered on a $250 expense submission involving four people. Ms. Waters is now a director of equity compensation at Aetna, Inc., and had worked at Merrill Lynch from 1991 to 1998 before joining Smith Barney, which later was acquired by Morgan Stanley. (More: Fired Ameriprise broker on the hook for $675,000 after losing arbitration)