Raymond James, Wells Fargo and UBS Rank Among Top Firms for Advisor Misconduct

According to the Tampa Bay Times last week, it was reported that Raymond James, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, was among the top ten firms with the highest misconduct rate of financial advisors. Raymond James ranked 8^th highest on the list. Other brokerage firms on the list include Oppenheimer, with the greatest concentration at 19.6%, Wells Fargo Advisors with 15.3% and UBS at 15.14%. Raymond James had a concentration of 13.74%. The findings were relayed in a large-scale study documenting misconduct among financial advisers, “The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct” issued last month by business professors at the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago business schools. The researchers found the aforementioned firms to be more tolerant of misconduct than the others, hiring more advisers with records. The researchers also found that many advisers who committed misconduct and were fired, were then hired at another firm within one year. Florida remains a state where there is much broker misconduct because of the large number of elderly retirees who tend to make good targets for unscrupulous brokers. Other firms who made the list were First Allied Securities, Cetera Advisors, Securities America, National Planning Corp, Stifel, Nicolaus and Janney Montgomery Scott. To sue any of these firms on a contingency fee basis, please call us for a free consultation.