UBS to Pay $1.1M in Yield Enhancement Strategy Cases

FINRA Arbitration Panels Award Damages To UBS YES Claimants

Two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) panels have ordered UBS Wealth Management (UBS) to pay investors over $1.1 million for losses they sustained from the firm’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES).

This complex options trading strategy that promised investors stable, incremental returns has cost wealthy UBS customers significant losses. Many of them are now contending that misrepresentations and omissions were made about the degree of risk involved. Additionally, these investments were unsuitable for their investment accounts.

While UBS and its brokers earned nearly $100 million annually from YES, customer losses have exceeded $1 billion. Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) represent investors in FINRA arbitration claims so that they can pursue damages. Call our UBS YES investor attorneys at (800) 259-9010 today.

Two Couples Awarded More than $800,000 in Boca Raton, Florida

In September 2021, a FINRA arbitration panel in Boca Raton awarded two couples over $800,000 — $269,377.09 plus $45,000 of prejudgment interest and $421,868.58 plus $70,499.93 of prejudgment interest, respectively.

These awards are reportedly a full recovery of the investors’ losses in the UBS YES product. The FINRA arbitration panelists denied UBS’s request that the claims be expunged from the records of UBS brokers Gabriel Cooperman and Tim Croak, who were not named parties in the case.

In the same month, a different FINRA arbitration panel awarded a claimant $358,000 over losses sustained in UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy. The panel refused to expunge the case from the records of its brokers Scott Rosenberg and Mark Elias, who were not named in the claim.

Scott Rosenberg has 22 disclosures listed in BrokerCheck. Many of those disclosures are still pending and related to the firm’s Yield Enhancement Strategy.

UBS YES Investors Were Blindsided By Their Losses

The Yield Enhancement Strategy’s complex options overlay strategy, known as an iron condor strategy, used different option trades with differing strike prices but the same expiration dates. It was supposed to limit exposure when the markets were volatile. While this proved to be true when the markets were stable, too much turbulence led to unexpected steep losses for YES investors.

Run by a UBS group in its Wealth Management Division, UBS YES was made available to over 6,500 of its brokers to market and sell to customers. Many UBS YES investors are claiming losses in the millions of dollars.

SSEK Law Firm Wins $405,000 UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy Award

In August 2021, our UBS YES investment lawyers won a $405,000 FINRA arbitration award in Baltimore, Maryland on behalf of two claimants who lost money in the YES product. The investors contended that the firm’s brokers executed the YES program in a way that conflicted with how the strategy was marketed and sold to customers. They also said that there were inadequate risk disclosures in place.

For over 30 years, SSEK Law Firm has gone after the biggest firms on Wall Street to fight for investors’ financial recovery while protecting their legal rights. If you suffered losses in UBS YES, contact our FINRA arbitration law firm today so that we can help you explore your legal options.