On March 4, 2015 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges to Irving, Texas based Broker Dealer, H.D. Vest Investment Securities (the Firm). The SEC alleged that the Firm failed to supervise two registered representatives, who misappropriated customer funds.
The theft occurred because the Firm lacked sufficient written supervisory procedures regarding registered representatives’ outside business activities. Because of these lack of controls, the two representatives were able to defraud these customer, in one case, by transferring or depositing customer brokerage funds into their outside business accounts.
The Firm, without admitting or denying wrongdoing settled with the SEC. They settled the charges with the SEC by paying a $225,000 fine and engaging the services of an outside compliance consultant. Click here to read the full SEC release.
About Red Oak Compliance Solutions
Red Oak Compliance Solutions is the global advertising review software of choice in the financial services industry. It is a comprehensive suite of SEC 17A-4 compliant features that are 100% books and records compliant and provides clients with 35% faster approvals and 70% fewer touches or better. We also offer Smart Review(SM), which solves for the storage and maintenance of disclosures, helping firms reduce risk, decrease review times, and increase the speed of distribution of marketing materials. Smart Registration(SM) automates the licensing and registration management process to help reduce regulatory risk and time spent on manual processes. Overall, Red Oak allows firms to minimize risk, reduce costs, and increase compliance review process effectiveness and efficiencies.