{"id":3663,"date":"2016-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockbrokerfraudblog.blawgcloud.com\/2016\/06\/securities_headlines_finra_enf"},"modified":"2020-01-07T17:35:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T23:35:24","slug":"securities-headlines-finra-enf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investorlawyers.com\/blog\/securities-headlines-finra-enf\/","title":{"rendered":"Securities Headlines: FINRA Enforcement Officials Say They Are Keeping Their Eyes on Variable Annuities, Massachusetts Goes Looking for Rogue Brokers, and Man is Accused of Scamming Women He Met Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

FINRA Takes a Closer Look at Variable Annuities<\/strong>
\nAt a recent Insured Retirement Institute Conference, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. enforcement officials said that even though variable annuities are not on the regulator\u2019s list of examination priorities for 2016 this doesn\u2019t mean it isn\u2019t scrutinizing them. FINRA Sr. VP\/deputy enforcement chief Russ Ryan said that variable annuities often are involved in its cases.<\/p>\n

It was just recently that FINRA charged MetLife (MET) $25M for making misrepresentations and omissions related to variable annuity sales. New products were marketed as less costly and better than the variable annuities that clients already owned when, in truth, said the regulator, the clients should have stayed with these older investments. The alleged misrepresentations and omissions were found in 72% of 35,500 applications for variable annuity replacements that were approved by MetLife.<\/p>\n

FINRA said that training and supervision were a key factor in the case, which is what they are also seeing in other variable annuity cases. The regulator is also looking at L-share variable annuities, which offer greater liquidity and a shorter surrender-penalty period.<\/p>\n

With a variable annuity contract, an insurer consents to pay the investor periodic payments either right away or in the future. The investor buys the contract with a single payment or a series of payments. The VA\u2019s value will depend on performance and the investment options selected by the investor.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts Targets Rogue Brokers<\/strong>
\nThe Massachusetts Securities Division is going after rogue brokers<\/a>. The regulator sent a letter to more than 240 firms that have a higher than average number of reps who have been reported for misconduct. The state says it wants the firms\u2019 hiring information and is interested in learning about brokerage firms’ hiring procedures and policies. The letter was issued to financial firms where over 15% of their current representatives have at least one current disclosure incident documented.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FINRA Takes a Closer Look at Variable Annuities At a recent Insured Retirement Institute Conference, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. enforcement officials said that even though variable annuities are not on the regulator\u2019s list of examination priorities for 2016 this doesn\u2019t mean it isn\u2019t scrutinizing them. FINRA Sr. VP\/deputy enforcement chief Russ Ryan said that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773,3739,3884],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broker-fraud","category-finra","category-variable-annuities"],"yoast_head":"\nSecurities Headlines: FINRA Enforcement Officials Say They Are Keeping Their Eyes on Variable Annuities, Massachusetts Goes Looking for Rogue Brokers, and Man is Accused of Scamming Women He Met Online — Investor Lawyers Blog — June 16, 2016<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FINRA Takes a Closer Look at Variable Annuities At a recent Insured Retirement Institute Conference, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. — June 16, 2016\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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