The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined San Diego's LPL Financial $7.5 million and ordered it to deposit $1.5 million into an escrow account to establish a fund to make payments to customers in arbitrations or litigations against the firm. Between 2007 and 2012, brokerage LPL expanded rapidly and now has 13,300 independent brokers and 4.3 million customer accounts. During the expansion period, says FINRA, the firm's email systems failed repeatedly, preventing access to hundreds of millions of emails. LPL failed to produce requested materials to regulators, and likely failed to produce emails to litigants and customers in arbitration proceedings, says FINRA.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined San Diego's LPL Financial $7.5 million and ordered it to deposit $1.5 million into an escrow account to establish a fund to make payments to customers in arbitrations or litigations against the firm. Between 2007 and 2012, brokerage LPL expanded rapidly and now has 13,300 independent brokers and 4.3 million customer accounts. During the expansion period, says FINRA, the firm's email systems failed repeatedly, preventing access to hundreds of millions of emails. LPL failed to produce requested materials to regulators, and likely failed to produce emails to litigants and customers in arbitration proceedings, says FINRA.