Brokerdealer.com works to provide people with a full and complete database of brokerdealers best suited for their needs. Unfortunately, some brokerdealers do not always follow the rules and this year many received hefty fines. Investment News ranked the top 10 of the biggest fines handed down to brokerdealer firms this year, excluding penalties given to indivuals at the firms.

10.  WFG hit for supervisory failures

Firm Fined: WFG Investments

Fine Amount: $700,000

Reason for Fine: Failing to commit the time, attention and resources to a range of critical obligations in its supervision of registered reps.

9. Berthel Fisher forced to pay over compliance

Firm Fined: Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services Inc.

Fine Amount: $775,000

Reason for Fine: Failure to supervise the sale of alternative investments such as non-traded REITs and leveraged and inverse ETFs.

8. LPL’s alternatives sales prove costly

Firm Fined: LPL Financial

Fine Amount: $950,000

Reason for Fine: Supervisory deficiencies related to sales of nontraded REITs, oil and gas partnerships, business development companies, hedge funds, managed futures and other illiquid investments.

7. Stifel’s million-dollar problem

 Firm Fined: Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and its subsidiary, Century Securities Inc.

Fine Amount: $1 million

Reason for Fine: Selling leveraged and inverse ETFs to customers for whom the investments were unsuitable, as well as the firms not having proper training or written procedures in place to make sure their advisers had an “adequate and reasonable basis” for recommending the products.

6. Retired brokers cost Morgan Stanley

Firm Fined: Morgan Stanley

Fine Amount: $1 million

Reason for Fine: Paying approximately $100 million in commissions to approximately 780 unregistered, retired brokers without properly ensuring they were no longer soliciting or advising.

To see the full list of fines and see which firm received the largest fine of 2014, click here

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