Just yesterday, FINRA announced that it has fined Iowa-based broker-dealer Berthel Fisher $775,000 for failures to adequately train and supervise brokers selling alternative investments, such as real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), and non-traditional exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), including leveraged and inverse ETFs.
In addition to REITs and ETFs, Berthel brokers also reportedly sold managed futures, oil and gas investments, equipment leasing programs and business developments companies, all while having “inadequate supervisory systems and written procedures for sales” of these investments.
Firms are required to have sufficient supervisory systems and written procedures for the sale of such investments to help ensure that these potentially risky and illiquid investments are only sold to investors for whom they are suitable and appropriate. Oftentimes, these investments are not appropriate for your average investor.
It was reported that Berthel failed to properly review for suitability and may have left investors over-concentrated, meaning that too much of the investor’s savings may have been in just one investment, rather than being spread out in many different investments (i.e. diversified).
Even though these potentially very risky investments may not be appropriate for an average investor, brokers my sell them to average investors anyway because they are often “high-commission products,” meaning that the broker gets paid more for selling them than he or she would for selling a more traditional investment such as a mutual fund. Some commissions paid to brokers and broker-dealers on some of these non-traditional products can be 10% or more of the total amount invested.
All in all, it has been reported that Berthel brokers recommended more than $49 million worth of nontraditional ETFs to over 1,000 clients. It is believed that these sales were sometimes not appropriate for the investor.
Unfortunately, Berthel Fisher is not alone. FINRA’s fine of Berthel comes just two months after the regulator fined PNC Investments for failing to establish and maintain a satisfactory supervisory system with respect to the sale of non-traditional ETFs. The conduct for which PNC was fined was surprisingly similar to that of Berthel. Ultimately, PNC was fined $275,000 and paid restitution of more than $33,000.
If an ETF or other investment is sold to an investor, and it is not suitable for them, the investor may be able to recover for any and all losses caused by that investment.
If you believe you have lost money as a result of an investment in these or any other non-traditional investment, contact an attorney at Malecki Law for a free consultation to determine if you may be able to recover your losses.