Summit Brokerage Fined for Failing to Apply Sales-Charge Discounts to UIT Customers
Summit Brokerage Services, Inc. (Summit) of Boca Raton, Florida submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Department of Enforcement for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly failing to apply sales-charge discounts to certain customers’ eligible purchases of unit investment trusts (UITs) and for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce a proper supervisory system. Summit faced a similar FINRA disciplinary action in 2015 with regard to its supervision of non-traditional exchange-traded funds (ETFs). FINRA investigators alleged that Summit failed to apply sales charge discounts to certain customers’ eligible purchases of UITs. FINRA found that Summit failed to apply sales-charge discounts to 362 eligible UIT purchases resulting in customers paying excessive sales charges of approximately $62,236.26. FINRA also alleged that Summit failed to establish, maintain, and enforce a supervisory system and written supervisory procedures (WSPs) reasonably designed to ensure that customers received sales-charge discounts to which they were entitled on UIT purchases. Summit’s WSPs did not even contain provisions specific to UIT discounts.
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