To settle charges over a high-pressure sales contest involving its financial advisers and brokerage clients, Morgan Stanley (MS) will pay $1 million to Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. By settling, the firm did not deny or admit to the charges. It must, however, reassess its sales contest policies and notify the state of what is included in them, as well as what changes it might make in the wake of this review.<\/p>\n
It was last year that Galvin charged the broker-dealer for cross selling and encouraging wealthy clients to borrow against their brokerage accounts. He also accused senior Morgan Stanley staff of knowing about the contest, determining that it violated the firm\u2019s own internal policies (in addition to Massachusetts securities rules), but yet allowing the contest to continue for a few more months. It was only then that the firm’s Compliance and Risk decided that the contest was \u201cimpermissible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program, which also involved a similar contest in Rhode Island, ran between \u201914 and \u201915. 30 financial advisers at five Morgan Stanley offices participated. The financial representatives are accused of persuading investors to set up new lending accounts. The broker-dealer purportedly rewarded them with bigger \u201cbusiness development allowances\u201d when their efforts were successful. Advisers were given $1K for every 10 loan accounts that were opened, $3K for every 20 accounts, and $5K for every 30 accounts.<\/p>\n