Review of 9 Major Brokerage Firms to Show All Claim to Put Customers First and Some Even Claim to Support Fiduciary Duty Standard, But All Deny Any Such Responsibility in Arbitration.

InvestorIdeas (March 23, 2015) -- A new report to be released at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (March 25, 2015) by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) will show that America's leading brokerage firms claim in advertisements to put the interests of investors ahead of their own, but all deny any such duty to avoid conflicted advice when it comes to arbitration cases filed by investors.

The review of the inconsistent advertising claims and arbitration case stances of nine top brokerage firms - Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, Ameriprise, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, Allstate Financial, UBS, and Berthel Fisher - are detailed in the new report from PIABA. The report shows that five of the firms claim to support a rule imposing a fiduciary duty, but also disclaim in arbitration cases having any such obligation.

The new PIABA analysis also looks at how many tens of billions of dollars the nearly five year delay in imposing a ban on conflicted advice from brokers has cost U.S. investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Labor (DOL) are both considering steps to impose a fiduciary duty on brokers. The PIABA report will note that brokerage firms "advertise that they are a fiduciary such as a doctor or lawyer. But, when a dispute arises with investors, they argue they have the duties of a used car salesman."

News event speakers will be:

  • Report co-author Joseph C. Peiffer, a New Orleans-based arbitration attorney and president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association;
  • Report co-author Christine Lazaro, director, Securities Arbitration Clinic, St. John's University School of Law; and
  • An elderly woman from Cedar Bluff, AL., who, along with her husband suffering from Alzheimer's, was taken advantage of by two securities firms. The woman, who also is responsible for the care of a mentally challenged daughter, lost $400,000 and is now in a pending arbitration case against Allstate Financial, which is disclaiming a fiduciary obligation to this couple that depended on unbiased advice.
  • Jason R. Doss, an Atlanta-based arbitration attorney, immediate past PIABA president and counsel for the news event speaker from Cedar Bluff, AL.

TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on March 25, 2015 by dialing 1 (877) 418-4267. Ask for the "conflicted advice report" news event.

CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 5 p.m. EDT on March 25, 2015 at http://www.piaba.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266, or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com.

ABOUT PIABA

The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association is an international, not-for-profit, voluntary bar association of lawyers who represent investors in securities and commodities arbitration proceedings and securities litigation. The mission of PIABA is to promote the interests of the public investor in securities and commodities arbitration, by seeking to protect those investors from abuses in the arbitration process, by seeking to make securities arbitration as just and fair as systemically possible and by educating investors concerning their rights. For more information, go to http://www.piaba.org.