SEC Says Broker-Dealers Need to Do a Better Job of Monitoring High Risk Products

The Securities and Exchange Commission has put out an alert warning brokerage firms that they need to better monitor the sale of high risk complex investments to retail investors. The regulator said that its analysis of 26,600 transactions of $1.25 billion of structured securities products revealed that there has been quite a number of times when the investments were sold to investors for whom they were not appropriate.

According toInvestmentNews, the Commission examined 10 branch offices of brokerage firms. The assessments took place from January 2011 through the end of 2012. In one firm, they discovered $96 million of structured-product sales that were made to conservative investors. At two other broker-dealers, the SEC discovered high concentrations of structure products in the accounts of older investors. One representative purportedly modified a customer’s investment goals without that person’s consent after a sale went through to make the complex product purchases appear justified.

经纪人必须遵守适用性标准，该标准要求出售的投资产品达到每个客户的风险承受能力和投资目标。SEC表示，在进行的考试中，有些公司似乎的适合性控制较弱。

The Commission wants broker-dealers to regard this alert as a wake up call so that they will take a closer look at their compliance programs. The regulator noted that while all the broker-dealers that were scrutinized had written procedures and policies for suitability, the controls were not consistently or properly implemented. In some instances, suitability controls differed among the different branches of a firm.

结构性证券产品bob200体育
Structured securities products have become popular with investors because of their promise of high returns, especially during a period of low interest rates. They are usually issued as corporate obligations of the affiliates underwriting a brokerage firm. These products get their value from underlying asset classes and usually have some type of embedded derivatives.

SEC的警报集中在结构化的笔记上。这些键连接的仪器与衍生物有关。他们倾向于为注册代表产生高级佣金。SEC和FINRA都将结构化产品放在其优先级清单上，以仔细研究今年。

AtShepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP,ourbroker fraud law firmhelps investors recoup their losses. We represent retail investors, high net worth individual investors, and institutional investors.

SEC warns brokerages to monitor risky products better，InvestmentNews，2015年8月25日

BROKER-DEALER CONTROLS REGARDING RETAIL SALES OF STRUCTURED SECURITIES PRODUCTS, National Exam Program，SEC风险警报，2015年8月24日