The Massachusetts Securities Division sent a
questionnaire to 162 brokerage firms asking about complaints received from
clients 65 or older over the past two years, including what products those
complaints were related to. The regulators also want to know whether firms have
policies and procedures that would amount to heightened oversight about
transactions by senior investors.
“We have seen an increase in the actions
brought by the Securities Division that involved senior investors in one way or
another,” said a spokesman for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth
William Galvin.
Elderly investors have caused increasing
concerns for regulators and brokers nationwide. More than one-third of
enforcement action taken by state securities regulators since 2008 involved
senior investors, says the North American Securities Administrators
Association.
The issues regulators and brokerages wrestle
with range from problems brokers face communicating with clients who suffer
from dementia to outright elder abuse—by brokers, by relatives, by friends.
With more brokerage clients reaching retirement,
regulators want to know exactly how big a problem they are up against with bad
brokers taking advantage of elderly clients’ trust and forgetfulness. Brokerage
firms, meanwhile, struggle to determine what exactly they can do to properly
advise clients who start to forget facts, dates, and conversations, and who
might ask advisers to help them with unwise investment transactions.
Even lawyers seem to be a bit lost. The
American Bar Association said earlier this month that attorneys “often fail to
get involved” in elder-abuse issues, in part because they do not
recognize the abuse or are unsure of their ethical obligations. The ABA
added a webinar to raise awareness.
On Tuesday, a survey the ABA conducted with
the Investor Protection Trust and the Investor Protection Institute revealed
that more than one out of three attorneys says they are or may be dealing with
the victims of elder investment fraud and financial exploitation.
Full Article and Source:
Brokers Dealings With Older Investors Get More Scrutiny
Full Article and Source:
Brokers Dealings With Older Investors Get More Scrutiny
3 comments:
Lawyers "do not recognize the abuse or are unsure of their ethical obligations"?
Gimme a break!
How the hell do they pass the Bar?
They'd better be concerned because they're at the top of the list of abusers!
Always keep tabs on your financial advisor.
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