Posts belonging to Category Charles Schwab
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 6, 2009
Fidelity Investment has joined Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in warning customers about the complexity and risks of Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), reported Daisy Maxey in her article, “Fidelity the Latest to Caution on ETFs,” published in the August 4 Wall Street Journal. Fidelity’s web site now states: “Most [Leveraged ETFs] reset […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Fidelity, Investment Advisers, Morgan Stanley, Regulatory Developments, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Smart Investing Tools
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 4, 2009
In her recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Eleanor Laise reports that sales of Leveraged and Inverse Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have exploded to $32.8 billion as of June 2009, almost tripling the $11 billion held at the start of 2008. The number of such ETFs has increased to 119, an increase of 86%, […]
Categories: Ameriprise, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Investment Advisers, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley, Regulatory Developments, Smart Investing Tools, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 3, 2009
In the wake of a FINRA Regulatory Notice and a number of articles in the financial press, some brokerage firms say they are either issuing warnings about the products or silently following the discussions surrounding them. So reports Daisey Maxey of the Wall Street Journal in her July 30 article entitled “Warning Signs Up for […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Derivatives, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Investment Advisers, Morgan Stanley, Regulatory Developments
Posted by Page PerryonJuly 29, 2009
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, an important Wall Street lobbying group, has decided to support the Obama administration’s proposal to hold brokers to the same standard as a fiduciary when they provide investment advice, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. While investors who sue their brokers have long argued, […]
Categories: Ameriprise, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Investment Advisers, J. P. Morgan Chase, Legg Mason, Lehman Brothers, LPL Financial, Market Developments, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer, Raymond James, RBC Dain Raucher, Regulatory Developments, SunTrust, UBS, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
Posted by Page PerryonJuly 21, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sent a letter to Charles Schwab & Co. giving notice of his intent to bring a civil fraud suit against the brokerage firm for its sales practices in connection with auction rate securities. Auction rate securities are variable rate instruments in which the rates are determined through periodic […]
Categories: Auction Rate Securities, Bonds, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Regulatory Developments, Securities/Commodities Arbitration
Posted by Page PerryonJune 18, 2009
Once regarded as the retail investors’ friend, and somehow different from other fee-driven brokerage firms, Charles Schwab has been battling retail investors who were sold the Schwab YieldPlus Fund as a cash-equivalent investment, similar to a money market fund. The Schwab YieldPlus Fund has lost approximately half its value as a result of undisclosed, high-risk […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Lehman Brothers, Regulatory Developments, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonJune 9, 2009
Evergreen Investment Management Company (“Evergreen”), a unit of Wells Fargo & Co., has agreed to pay more than $40 million to settle an enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Massachusetts Securities Division, according to articles in the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Evergreen was a subsidiary of Wachovia at the […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Derivatives, Fidelity, Morgan Keegan, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Regulatory Developments, Securities Class Actions, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
Posted by Page PerryonMay 29, 2009
The SEC has taken action that should send shivers up the spines of many of Wall Street investment banks. The SEC recently charged 10 brokers associated with the now-defunct Brookstreet Securities Corp. (out of Irvine, California) with fraud for falsely marketing investments in complex derivative securities backed by mortgages as safe and suitable for retirees […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Derivatives, Morgan Keegan, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Regulatory Developments, Securities Class Actions, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonMay 18, 2009
On May 13, 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved a rule change that requires brokers to disclose alleged sales practice violations made by a customer against a securities broker in the body of a civil lawsuit or arbitration claim, even if that broker is not named as a defendant or respondent. The […]
Categories: Ameriprise, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Citigroup/Smith Barney, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Early Retirement Scams, Elder Abuses, ERISA Fiduciaries and Claims, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Investment Advisers, J. P. Morgan Chase, Legg Mason, Lehman Brothers, LPL Financial, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Keegan, Morgan Stanley, Mortgage Securities & Collateralized Debt Obligation Problems, Oppenheimer, Raymond James, RBC Dain Raucher, Regulatory Developments, Smart Investing Tools, SunTrust, UBS, Variable Annuities and Equity-Indexed Annuities, Wachovia, Wells Fargo
Posted by Page PerryonOctober 13, 2008
An arbitration panel in Minnesota has ordered Charles Schwab to pay $542,340 to an investor in the Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The amount of the claimed loss was $667,000.00. Schwab had recommended that the investor exchange his money market holdings for shares of the YieldPlus Fund. Schwab advertised the YieldPlus Fund as a suitable alternative to […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Charles Schwab, Securities/Commodities Arbitration