Robert W. Baird & Co. and Rolf Parker Griffith III Sanctioned for Supervisory Failures
Robert W. Baird & Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Rolf Parker Griffith III of Nashville, Tennessee submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent to the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise a former registered representative’s misuse of customer funds. FINRA alleges that during the period July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014, Robert W. Baird & Co. failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures for correcting trade errors that was reasonably designed to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and rules. FINRA claimed the brokerage firm did not provide its supervisors with any training or guidance on how to review, approve or process trade corrections in violation of NASD Conduct Rule 3010 and FINRA Rule 2010. Without admitting or denying the FINRA findings, Robert W. Baird & Co. was censured and was ordered to pay a $200,000 fine and ordered to adopt and certify to FINRA that it put in place reasonable supervisory procedures for trade corrections to prevent abuse of customers.
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