FINRA levies $15 million fine for software flaw that increased mutual-fund prices

Securities FINRA Enforcement

On June 2, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced it had entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC), which ordered a New York-based member brokerage firm to pay more than $15.2 million in restitution and interest to customers who were steered by a software flaw in its automated system into purchasing higher-priced mutual fund shares when other shares were available at substantially lower costs. According to FINRA, the firm’s system, which is designed to restrict a customer’s purchase of Class C shares when lower cost Class A shares are available, allegedly “failed to correctly identify and implement applicable purchase limits on Class C shares,” thus causing thousands of customers to purchase Class C shares and incur fees and charges. The firm neither admitted nor denied the findings set forth in the AWC agreement but accepted and consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings and agreed to convert shares where applicable. FINRA stated that it “did not impose a fine due to the firm’s extraordinary cooperation and substantial assistance with the investigation.”