The Financial Industry and Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined UVEST Financial Services Group, Inc. $230,000 and ordered the firm to provide remediation to customers after overcharging investors a total of $4,048.07 for withholding sales charge discounts on Unit Investment Trusts (UIT) purchases, rollovers and exchanges.
FINRA determined that UVEST neglected to provide the UIT sales charge discounts for eligible customers because of defective written supervisory procedures that stressed a reliance on improperly informed and inadequately trained brokers that were expected to manually apply the sales charge discounts.
Because satisfactory supervisory systems were not in place, not only were customers overcharged for select UIT transactions, the firm itself reported inaccurate information to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and failed to maintain proper order memoranda related to UIT activities.
If you have held or currently hold an account with UVEST Financial Services Group, Inc. or another firm, and believe you have been denied sales charge or other discounts on your investment transactions, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.