The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned brokerage firm Royal Securities Company (Royal Securities) concerning allegations Royal lacked adequate supervision and controls in several areas. FINRA alleged that Royal Securities failed to properly supervise two of its registered representatives, one of which utilized a unitary investment strategy for virtually all…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned brokerage firm PNC Investments LLC, (PNC) concerning allegations from January 2008, through June 2009, PNC failed to establish a supervisory system, including written procedures, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the FINRA rules in connection with the sale of leveraged, inverse, and inverse…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ordered brokerage firms Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (Stifel Nicolaus) and Century Securities Associates, Inc. (Century Securities) to pay combined fines of $550,000 and nearly $475,000 in restitution to 65 customers concerning allegations of the improper sale of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs).…
Broker-dealer Saxony Securities, Inc. (“Saxony”) was recently fined $15,000 over allegations by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the regulator of securities broker-dealers, that Saxony failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written procedures, regarding the sale of leveraged or inverse exchange-traded ETFs that was reasonably designed to…
A leveraged Exchange Traded Fund (non-traditional or leveraged ETFs) is a security that employs debt, or leverage, in order to amplify the returns of an underlying stock position. Leveraged ETFs are generally available for most security indexes such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. A leveraged ETF with 300%…