We Represent Texas Investors Against Brokerage Firms and Investment Advisers
From our Houston, TX securities law office, the Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, Houston SEC Regulation Best Interest Law Firm (investorlawyers.com) represents investors whose financial advisors disregarded their best interests when making a recommendation and caused them to sustain serious portfolio losses. Contact us today if you are a Texas investor who would like to explore your legal options.
What Is SEC Regulation Best Interest, And Why Is It Important For Houston, TX Investors?
Established as a new rule under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) sets up a “best interest” standard of conduct that broker-dealers and their associated persons must abide by when making any investment recommendation to a retail customer. These individual investors are not professional investors. They often turn to brokers and investment advisers for help with their investments.
SEC Reg BI went into effect in 2019. It enhanced broker-dealers’ standard of conduct beyond their suitability obligations under FINRA Rule 2111. That rule requires brokers to have reasonable grounds for believing a recommendation is appropriate based on a customer’s investment profile, including their age, risk tolerance level, investing experience, liquidity needs, financial goals, and other key information. It doesn’t hold financial advisors to account for making sure a suitable recommendation was also in that customer’s best interests.
With Regulation Best Interest, broker-dealers have a responsibility not to place their own financial interests over the best interests of retail customers. This can be satisfied with certain obligations involving:
Disclosure: Complete and fair disclosure of all material facts involving the recommendation being made.
Care: Reasonable care must be conducted to ensure that a recommendation is, in fact, in the customer’s best interests.
Dealing with conflicts of interest: Brokerage firms must set up, maintain, and enforce procedures meant to identify and disclose material facts involving any conflicts. Brokers should mitigate or eliminate conflicts of interest when possible.
Compliance: Ensuring the firm has policies and procedures to be able to comply with Reg BI.
Recordkeeping: Broker-dealers are supposed to keep detailed and complete records of any recommendations made, including the grounds upon why they were made.
Brokers who do not take a Houston investor’s best interests into account may end up making unsuitable recommendations, fail to conduct the necessary due diligence, and even sell the customer’s investments that charge higher commissions when there are less expensive, comparable products available. Committing broker fraud is not in the customer’s best interests.
How Can Our Houston, TX Reg BI Attorneys Help?
Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas represents Texas investors in pursuing damages caused by their brokers’ neglect of their best interests. Such disputes are usually brought in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration. This is not the kind of legal claim you want to make without a trusted Houston Regulation BI law firm by your side.
Filing your own Reg Best Interest claim against the broker-dealer that should be held liable would be separate from any regulatory case brought against the brokerage firm. We have been fighting for investors and protecting their right to financial recovery for more than 35 years. With over a century’s worth of collective experience in securities fraud and securities law, our Houston, TX Regulation Best Interest law firm has the knowledge, skills, and resources to handle the most complex cases against the largest Wall Street firms, as well as against regional brokerage firms and independent broker-dealers.
If we decide to work together, we will conduct a thorough investigation into your Reg BI losses and file a solid FINRA lawsuit on your behalf. We would represent you during any settlement and arbitration proceedings. We know how to maximize an investor’s chances for full financial recovery.
Contact Our Houston SEC Regulation Best Interest Law Firm Today:
Over the decades, we have helped thousands of investors to collectively recoup many millions of dollars from broker-dealers and investment advisers whose misconduct or negligence contributed to their investment losses. Call (936) 259-1033 or (800) 259-9010 or fill out this online form to schedule your free case consultation.
1010 Lamar St #900
Houston, TX 77002