Morgan Stanley fined by FINRA over structured products.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC (CRD #8209, New York, New York) recently submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which the firm was censured and fined $600,000.

Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of findings that it did not have a firm-wide structured product-specific suitability policy. The findings stated that, instead, it had an overall suitability guideline that directed supervisors to consider concentration when reviewing all securities purchases.

The firm issued selling memoranda specific to each of its proprietary structured product offerings; some of the selling memoranda included a 10 percent concentration guideline with respect to the specific issue and a $100,000 minimum net worth recommendation.

The findings also stated that the firm developed standard concentration and net worth guidelines, which were posted on its structured products website. Despite the concentration and net worth guidelines, the firm sold structured products at concentrated levels and to customers who did not meet the firm’s minimum net worth recommendation.

This information which is publicly available on FINRA’s website has been provided by The White Law Group, LLC.

If you have questions about investments you made with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.  To speak with a securities attorney, please call the firm’s Chicago office at 312/238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at https://whitesecuritieslaw.com.