Post by pavel on May 12, 2016 22:35:11 GMT -6
Stephens Inc. fined $900,000; Cotton seeks crackdown on broker misconduct
LITTLE ROCK — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Wednesday it has fined financial services firm Stephens Inc. of Little Rock $900,000 for inadequate supervision of companywide internal emails containing information about companies and industries.
The fine was announced on the same day that U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., joined with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in calling on FINRA to crack down on misconduct by financial advisers.
FINRA, an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to regulate the financial industry, said in a news release it censured and fined Stephens after finding that from at least August 2013 through January of this year, the company did not adequately supervise the content and dissemination of internal emails from research analysts that potentially could include companies’ nonpublic information that might be misused by sales and trading personnel.
The regulatory body also said it found instances of Stephens employees forwarding emails marked “internal use only” to clients, or cutting and pasting the text of an internal-use email into a separate communication sent to a client. In at least one instance, FINRA said it found that content from an unapproved, draft research report was cut and pasted into an internal email.
Read more: pbcommercial.com/news/state/stephens-inc-fined-900000-cotton-seeks-crackdown-broker-misconduct
LITTLE ROCK — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Wednesday it has fined financial services firm Stephens Inc. of Little Rock $900,000 for inadequate supervision of companywide internal emails containing information about companies and industries.
The fine was announced on the same day that U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., joined with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in calling on FINRA to crack down on misconduct by financial advisers.
FINRA, an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to regulate the financial industry, said in a news release it censured and fined Stephens after finding that from at least August 2013 through January of this year, the company did not adequately supervise the content and dissemination of internal emails from research analysts that potentially could include companies’ nonpublic information that might be misused by sales and trading personnel.
The regulatory body also said it found instances of Stephens employees forwarding emails marked “internal use only” to clients, or cutting and pasting the text of an internal-use email into a separate communication sent to a client. In at least one instance, FINRA said it found that content from an unapproved, draft research report was cut and pasted into an internal email.
Read more: pbcommercial.com/news/state/stephens-inc-fined-900000-cotton-seeks-crackdown-broker-misconduct