Industry Insights

Industry Insights

Industry Insights

Industry Insights


Navigate the complexities of financial advising with AdvisorLaw's Industry Insights. Our experts provide actionable analysis on critical areas impacting your practice, including the latest FINRA and SEC/state regulations for brokers, RIAs, and IARs, the nuances of dual registration, strategic insights into Mergers & Acquisitions, evolving enforcement trends, practical regulatory compliance strategies, and effective succession planning. Stay informed, compliant, and positioned for growth with AdvisorLaw's perspectives.

Advisors Fielding Unprecedented Wave Of New Investor Complaints
FINRA Disputes & U5 Terminations FINRA Expungement & Arbitration FINRA, SEC, State & CFP Board Enforcement

Advisors Fielding Unprecedented Wave Of New Investor Complaints

FINRA will release 2022 data early next year, but we can be sure that the precipitous fall of the market indexes is directly correlated to the number of investor complaints.
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Maryland Advisor Restores Disclosure-Free Records With Expungement
Uncategorized

Maryland Advisor Restores Disclosure-Free Records With Expungement

A Maryland advisor who’s closing in on 30 years in the industry had a sole disclosure on his public records from a customer dispute lodged in 2006. With the help...
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California Advisor Removes 13-Year-Old Customer Dispute
Case Results & Wins

California Advisor Removes 13-Year-Old Customer Dispute

In 2009, just five years into his career in the industry, this current investment adviser representative (IAR) and then-broker received a customer dispute on his otherwise perfect record at the...
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Why RIAs Are Better Off Planning Their Successions Today
Mergers & Acquisitions Selling RIA Succession Planning

Why RIAs Are Better Off Planning Their Successions Today

According to a recent survey by DeVoe and Company, nearly half of all RIA firms managing more than $1 billion in assets experienced higher-than-average turnover rates in 2021. Now more...
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Making the Switch to RIA
RIA Setup & Registration

Making the Switch to RIA

Are you growing weary of the aggressive and expensive enforcement tactics being employed by your broker-dealer and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)? Have you considered joining or starting your...
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Daytona Beach Advisor Removes Termination Disclosures
Case Results & Wins

Daytona Beach Advisor Removes Termination Disclosures

Fifteen years into his career as a financial advisor, this registered rep received a FINRA Form U5 termination disclosure from his firm for allegedly failing to inform the firm of...
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Expungement Week 2022
FINRA Disputes & U5 Terminations FINRA Expungement & Arbitration FINRA, SEC, State & CFP Board Enforcement IRS Tax Liens & Disclosures

Expungement Week 2022

AdvisorLaw has dominated the FINRA arbitration environment since being branded the "800-pound gorilla." We’ve successfully completed more advisor-initiated expungements than the rest of the industry combined. Over the past seven...
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Three-Arbitrator Panel Grants Expungement Of 2 Disclosures
Case Results & Wins

Three-Arbitrator Panel Grants Expungement Of 2 Disclosures

In 2019, just six years into his career in the financial services industry, an advisor was hit with two customer disputes, each with a long list of allegations. While the...
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Four Tips For A Successful Sale Of Your RIA
Mergers & Acquisitions Selling RIA Succession Planning

Four Tips For A Successful Sale Of Your RIA

Now is a good time to sell your financial advisory or wealth management practice. This month, at its 10th Deals and Dealmakers Summit, California investment-banking firm, Echelon Partners, reported “higher...
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FINRA’s Career-Ending Form U5
FINRA Disputes & U5 Terminations

FINRA’s Career-Ending Form U5

Financial advisors and wealth managers should be very concerned with the potential consequences of negative Forms U5. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has launched a two-pronged attack on its...
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Seattle Advisor Wins Expungement Of Termination Disclosure
Case Results & Wins

Seattle Advisor Wins Expungement Of Termination Disclosure

After nearly 25 years in the industry and nearly 20 with the same firm, a financial advisor was terminated by the firm for not having disclosed promissory notes issued by...
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The RIA Compliance Lifehack
RIA Compliance

The RIA Compliance Lifehack

That's why many high-performing small RIAs are beginning to embrace the outsourced CCO model. AdvisorLaw's RIA division oversees the compliance needs for over $30 billion of AUM for RIA clients around...
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Colorado Advisor’s Settled Dispute Disclosure Expunged
Case Results & Wins

Colorado Advisor’s Settled Dispute Disclosure Expunged

In September of 2020, more than 30 years into his career as a financial services professional, a Colorado advisor was slapped with a customer dispute disclosure. The dispute had been...
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How to Prepare for the SEC’s 2022 Exams
RIA Compliance

How to Prepare for the SEC’s 2022 Exams

Contact Us Today! This year’s SEC examination priorities focused primarily on Standards of Conduct and whether advisers are acting consistently with their fiduciary duty to clients — exploring duties of...
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New Jersey Advisor Wipes Sole Customer Dispute From Records
Case Results & Wins

New Jersey Advisor Wipes Sole Customer Dispute From Records

Twenty-four years into his career, a New Jersey-based investment adviser representative and the former broker had no customer disputes on his public records — until August 2020, when he received...
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SEC & FINRA Regulation Best Interest Enforcement Bags First Victims
FINRA, SEC, State & CFP Board Enforcement

SEC & FINRA Regulation Best Interest Enforcement Bags First Victims

FINRA has carried out more than 600 firm exams since the implementation of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) in June 2020. Exactly a year later, the Securities and Exchange Commission...
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Wisconsin Advisor Wins Expungement Despite Customer Opposition
Case Results & Wins

Wisconsin Advisor Wins Expungement Despite Customer Opposition

A Wisconsin advisor who has been in the industry since 1996 had two customer disputes on his record — one of which dated back to ’98. Both disclosures included allegations...
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Maine Advisor Achieves Removal Of Firm-Opposed Termination
Case Results & Wins

Maine Advisor Achieves Removal Of Firm-Opposed Termination

An advisor in Maine who began his financial-services career nearly 20 years ago was terminated in 2019 — after nearly a decade with the firm. The advisor hired AdvisorLaw to...
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AdvisorLaw Response To FINRA’s Attempt To Decimate Expungement
FINRA Expungement & Arbitration FINRA, SEC, State & CFP Board Enforcement

AdvisorLaw Response To FINRA’s Attempt To Decimate Expungement

Last month, we publicized FINRA's new attempt at gutting the expungement process for advisors who wish to clear their records of meritless complaints (SR-FINRA-2022-024). The highlights of the proposed rule...
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SEC and DOL Implement Several Significant Changes
FINRA, SEC, State & CFP Board Enforcement RIA Compliance

SEC and DOL Implement Several Significant Changes

Contact Us Today! In the first half of 2022, the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor implemented or proposed a number of significant changes to the regulatory...
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