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Henry Al Dean Watson Barred By FINRA

FINRA announced that it barred an ex-Hilliard Lyons broker, Henry Al Dean Watson, who recently settled a customer complaint accusing him of excessive trading and commissions, unauthorized trades, and portfolio mismanagement. Watson broke FINRA rules by failing to appear to give testimony before the regulator.Watson began in the securities business in 1984. He was registered with a number of firms before registering with Hilliard Lyons in January 2012. He worked there until October and is not currently licensed with any other firm.As happens quite regularly, FINRA wanted  Henry Al Dean Watson's testimony in relation to an inquiry about an arbitration claim filed by a customer against him, the settlement stated. Watson failed to appear to provide testimony, thus violating industry rules. He consented to the sanction without admitting or denying the findings.His FINRA BrokerCheck profile states that Watson made no contribution in a $166,500 arbitration award from 2015 in which a client alleged excessive trading and commissions, unauthorized trades and portfolio mismanagement. [...]

By |January 19th, 2017|Broker Check, FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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Valic Financial Advisors Fined $1.75M

Referring to several conflicts of interest regarding how the firm paid brokers selling annuities, FINRA announced that it fined Valic Financial Advisors Inc. $1.75 million. FINRA found that VFA "failed to have a reasonable system to address and review the conflict of interest created by its compensation policy,” the regulator stated. It specifically pointed to occasions when VFA's customers decided to move assets out of variable annuities to other in-house products, including VFA indexed annuities, as causing the fine. “From October 2011 through October 2014, VFA created a conflict of interest by providing registered representatives a financial incentive to recommend that customers move their funds from Valic variable annuities to the firm's fee-based platform or into a Valic fixed index annuity,” FINRA said. “VFA further incentivized the conflict by prohibiting its registered representatives from receiving compensation when moving customer funds from a Valic VA to non-Valic VAs, mutual funds or other non-Valic products.” “During 2012 and 2013, [...]

By |January 2nd, 2017|FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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VFG Securities Settles Claims With FINRA

VFG Securities Inc., a small broker-dealer, and its owner, Jason Vanclef, reached a settlement agreement with FINRA regarding allegations that he and the firm had customers overly concentrated in illiquid investments and had used a book he had written to pump up these alternative investments. FINRA had filed a complaint claiming that the firm failed to supervise its brokers to ensure that customers' portfolios would not become overly concentrated in illiquid investments. Between November 2010 and June 2012, nearly 95% of VFG Securities' revenue was obtained through the sale of nontraded REITs and other direct participation programs, which are illiquid assets for retails investors, FINRA said. FINRA further accused Vanclef of using a book he had written, "The Wealth Code," as sales literature to promote investments in nontraded REITs and DPPs "to lure" potential investors to VFG Securities. Vanclef “repeatedly claimed in 'The Wealth Code' that nontraded DPPs and nontraded REITs offer both higher returns and [...]

By |January 2nd, 2017|FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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Twelve Firms Fined For Cybersecurity Issues

FINRA dished out $14.4 million in fines to twelve firms for breaches pertaining to the retention of broker-dealers' and clients' electronic records, which the regulator says made the firms vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. The firms include Wells Fargo & Co. and RBC Capital networks, RBS Securities Inc., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc., LPL Financial, Georgeson Securities Corp. and PNC Capital Markets. FINRA says they failed to maintain electronic records in a particular format designed to prevent alteration and destruction. "These disciplinary actions are a result of FINRA's focus on ensuring that firms maintain accurate, complete and adequately protected electronic records,” said Brad Bennett, FINRA's chief of enforcement, who is stepping down early next year. “Ensuring the integrity of these records is critical to the investor protection function because they are a primary means by which regulators examine for misconduct in the securities industry." The massive fine is in accordance with FINRA's wider crackdown on cybersecurity lapses, which it outlined earlier in 2016 as [...]

By |December 21st, 2016|FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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