Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) Issues Report on Need for Fiduciary Standard
This past Wednesday, the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA) issued a press release calling for the end to brokerage firms misleading the investing public about their role as fiduciaries. The crux of the dispute surrounds brokerage firm advertising that portrays their companies and their representatives as fiduciaries who have only their clients’ best interest at heart. However, when it comes time to defend a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)arbitration claim, all the major firms have filed Answers with defenses that no such standard applies to their non-discretionary client relationships. PIABA, as well as Mary Jo White, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as the Department of Labor (DOL) are pushing to make a uniform fiduciary standard that currently only applies to investment advisors apply to all financial advisors including brokers.
The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association is an international, not-for-profit, voluntary bar
association of lawyers who represent investors in securities and commodities arbitration proceedings
and securities litigation. The mission of PIABA is to promote the interests of the public investor in
securities and commodities arbitration, by seeking to protect those investors from abuses in the
arbitration process, by seeking to make securities arbitration as just and fair as systemically possible
and by educating investors concerning their rights.
The experienced securities fraud attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright are members of PIABA and have litigated hundreds of FINRA arbitration claims to successful conclusion. If you believe your broker or financial advisor has breached his fiduciary duties or was negligent in the handling of your account, please contact us for a free case evaluation.