How to Avoid Compliance Policies That Cater To the Lowest Denominator
by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in AdvisorBiz May, 2010: The past two years have been unlike anything I've seen since entering the financial services industry. Regulations have become increasingly labor-intensive, while broker-dealers are on the defensive; doing everything they can to shield themselves from the potential liability of their own advisors. Regulations in our industry are seldom black and white. Plenty of room has been left, for example, for broker-dealers to decide how advisors are supervised, or how marketing materials are approved, or the complexity of business paperwork. The ideal scenario is when advisors are with firms that do what financial services regulators require, but not much more. Problems arise, however, when broker-dealers experience certain triggers that end up making their advisors' lives much more difficult. Here are a few examples of those...
