RBC to pay $560,000 for transferring retiree's pension

A Finra arbitration panel has awarded a Wyoming couple $559,612 in a claim against RBC Capital Markets and three of its brokers for having transferred funds improperly from a defined benefit plan. The transfer, from the account of claimants John T. Keck and Kathleen A. Keck in the Wyoming Retirement System's defined benefit plan, forfeited the couple's right to receive monthly benefits from the plan. The brokers involved — Jacqueline Sarette Georgia, Paul Samuel Howard, and Bryan Kristian Pedersen — work in the Cheyenne, Wyo., office of RBC. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. found the conduct of the brokers and their firm negligent. The claimants had requested damages in the amount of $662,625.