Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogFINRA Fines Cetera Almost $2 Million for Mutual Fund Sales Charge Violations
FINRA entered into a settlement with Cetera Advisor Networks LLC (CRD# 13572) over improprieties related to mutual sales fund charge waivers.
According to the Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC’) entered into between Cetera and FINRA, Cetera disadvantaged certain retirement plan and charitable organization customers that were eligible to purchase certain shares in mutual funds without a front-end sales charge. Instead, Cetera sold these customers shares with front-end or back-end sales charges and higher ongoing fees and expenses.
Cetera did not waive the additional mutual fund sales charge even though customers qualified for it and, according to the AWC, Cetera carried on this conduct between July 2009 and January 2017.