Investor Protection

Groups urge SEC to Investigate Registered Investment Advisers’ Use of Forced Arbitration Clauses

CFA joined other organizations who represent and advocate for retail investor rights, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to gather and publish data about Registered Investment Advisers’ (RIAs’) use of forced arbitration clauses in investor contracts. While information about broker-dealer arbitration, which is run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is publicly available, the organizations expressed concerned about the lack of transparency in how mandatory arbitration affects, often negatively, clients of RIAs. This lack of transparency is particularly troubling in the context of recent trends in the securities industry, which show mass migration of assets from FINRA-registered broker-dealers to SEC- and state-registered RIAs.