08.31.20
Financial Firms Fail to Own Up to Advisors' Past Misdeeds
by: Jason Zweig and Andrea Fuller
The newly SEC-mandated “customer or client relationship summary,” or Form CRS, which firms had to file by June 30, often contradict longer disclosures on the SEC website, an analysis from the Wall Street Journal has found. At least 1,300 brokerage and financial advisory firms incorrectly stated on the new document that neither they nor their financial professionals had legal or disciplinary histories, the analysis showed, about 20 percent of the firms in the analysis that reported they had no past blemishes. An SEC committee said on July 27 that initial reviews have identified cases where the forms lack some disclosures. A spokesperson for the agency said staff members have “observed areas where disclosure may be inaccurate or incomplete” and that the agency's examiners will formally review the filings to ensure they are accurate and not misleading.
Read the full article on Wall Street Journal.