The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced on October 20, 2016 that it is seeking SEC approval of proposed rules to help prevent the financial exploitation of seniors and other vulnerable adults. FINRA’s proposed rules would require firms to make reasonable efforts to obtain the name of and contact information for a trusted contact person for a customer’s account. FINRA also has proposed a rule that would permit firms to temporarily freeze disbursement of funds or securities and to inform the trusted contact when the firm has a reasonable belief that financial exploitation may occur.
Effective Tools to Protect Seniors
According to FINRA Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Robert Colby, “If approved by the SEC, this proposed rule change will equip firms with more effective tools to better protect their senior and other vulnerable customers from financial exploitation. With the aging of the investor population, FINRA believes it is important to put these protections in place for our seniors and other vulnerable investors.”
Seniors are widely viewed as the segment of our population most vulnerable to swindles and financial abuse. If you’re a senior who is concerned that your advisor may be scamming or misleading you, or if you’re a friend or family member of a senior whose investment advisor may be exploiting him or her, please feel free to call us. We can look at the records and either put your mind at ease or alert you to possible misconduct. And if we find that misconduct has produced losses in an investment portfolio, we can help to recover some or all of those losses. Contact attorney Hugh Berkson at (866) 932-1295 for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your recovery options.
Hugh Berkson is a Securities Attorney with McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman, Co. LPA. Hugh is rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell®.
He obtained a business degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989, and is a 1994 graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Barristers and received both the American Jurisprudence Award, (National Mock Trial) in 1993 and the Jonathan M. Ault Mock Trial Prize for 1993-1994.
