\t\t\t\tThe Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering 12 firms to pay a collective total of $14.4M in fines over deficiencies involving the way they preserved customer and brokerage firm records. The firms who are subject to these sanctions include:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 RBS Securities (RBS) for $2M
\n\u00b7 LPL Financial (LPLA) for $750K
\n\u00b7 Wells Fargo Prime Services and Wells Fargo Securities (WFC) for a collective $4M fine
\n\u00b7 Wells Fargo Advisors, First Clearing LLC, and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network for a joint fine of $1.5M
\n\u00b7 RBS Capital Markets Arbitrage and RBC Capital Markets for $3.5M
\n\u00b7 SunTrust Robinson Humphrey for $1.5M
\n\u00b7 PNC Capital Markets for $500K<\/p>\n
Under FINRA rules and federal securities laws, electronic records that are business-related have to be maintained in WORM format so that they cannot be modified. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, this is necessary to protect investors because monitoring compliance by firms occurs primarily through their records and books.<\/p>\n