10/8/12

Wells Fargo has hired Henry "Hank" Sanchez, Jr. Esq., with Oyster Consulting, to independently investigate George Hartzman's Whistleblower filing

"Mr. Sanchez has been in the securities industry for over 25 years.


His experience covers all aspects of the securities industry.

Immediately prior to joining Oyster Consulting,
Mr. Sanchez was with LPL Financial Corporation,
where he held Compliance leadership roles as Vice President of Surveillance,
as well as Sr. Vice President and CCO of the nation’s largest independent brokerage firm.

His role at LPL included managing a group of compliance professionals in the following areas:
Surveillance, OSJ Supervision, Compliance technology support, Regulatory responses,
Home Office Supervision, and Financial Services compliance.

He was responsible for LPL’s overall compliance program related to such areas trading,
suitability of specific products, such as UIT’s, mutual funds, VA’s, options,
structured products, and 1035 exchanges.

...Mr. Sanchez has over 10 years experience as a regulator
with both the S.E.C. and NASD (now FINRA).

While with the S.E.C. in Washington, DC, he was assigned to the SEC's Division of Market Regulation,
working in the Office of Trading Practices, and the Office of Inspections, Options Branch.

At the NASD, Mr. Sanchez held two positions.

He served for several years as regional counsel
in NASD Regulation's Enforcement Department in New Orleans, Louisiana,
prosecuting cases and negotiating settlements.

He was also counsel to the Internal Review Department in Rockville, MD.,
where he participated in the development of annual audit plan
with Audit Directors and senior management.


Mr. Sanchez has also spent several years in private practice
concentrating in broker/dealer compliance matters,
including firm and individual registrations, sales and trading practices,
continuing education, statutory disqualification, securities arbitration and litigation,
and State, SEC, and SRO investigations and disciplinary actions.

...He is also a member of the SIFMA Compliance and Legal Division,
and the National Society of Compliance Professionals (Board of Directors-2003-2006).

Mr. Sanchez received his J.D. degree from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark,
and received his L.L.M. degree in Securities Regulation from Georgetown University.

He completed the NASD Institute/Wharton program
(Certified Regulatory Compliance Professional) in 2003.

He holds the Series 7, 24, 65 and 66 registrations,
and the Life, Health and Variable insurance license.

He is also a FINRA Arbitrator."

Every investor deserves fundamental protections...

"FINRA is every investor’s advocate.

FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
…with a public mission: to protect America’s investors
by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly.

We set high ethical standards for financial firms.

One of our top priorities is to ensure that firms
are operating fairly and openly with investors.

...Our independent regulation plays a critical role in America’s financial system
by enforcing high ethical standards,
bringing the necessary resources and expertise to regulation
and enhancing investor safeguards and market integrity…

...investors need to know someone is looking out for them.

Safeguard the investing public against fraud and bad practices.

FINRA writes and enforces rules and regulations
for every single brokerage firm and broker in the United States.

We also investigate and discipline brokers and firms
that violate the public trust.

Examine firms.

Every day, hundreds of professionally trained FINRA financial examiners
are in the field taking a close look at the way brokers operate,
with a focus on the greatest risks to the markets and investors.

We conduct routine examinations,
as well as inquiries based on investor complaints and suspicious activity.

We consult with other regulators, determine examination priorities
and conduct special “sweeps” to target issues of immediate concern.

Enforce industry rules and federal securities laws.

We foster investor confidence through vigorous enforcement.

We can bring disciplinary actions against firms or individuals,
meaning we can fine them, suspend them—even expel them—from the business.

…we frequently require firms to provide restitution to investors
who have been harmed.

...Review communications from firms to investors.

We require that all broker advertisements, websites,
sales brochures and other communications
present information in a fair and balanced manner.

...FINRA works every day to ensure that:
...every securities product advertisement used is truthful,
and not misleading

...investors receive complete disclosure
about the investment product before purchase

Every day FINRA works to ensure investors receive the basic protections they deserve
—regardless of what kind of financial product they buy
or who sells it to them.

We alert investors about new product pitfalls.

http://www.finra.org/web/groups/corporate/@corp/@about/documents/corporate/p118667.pdf

is to protect investors...

...our investor protection mission is more compelling than ever.

...unlike the banking world, where deposits are guaranteed by the federal government,
stocks, bonds and other securities can lose value.

There are no guarantees.

That's why investing is not a spectator sport.

...The laws and rules that govern the securities industry in the United States
derive from a simple and straightforward concept:
all investors, whether large institutions or private individuals,
should have access to certain basic facts about an investment prior to buying it,
and so long as they hold it.

To achieve this, the SEC requires public companies
to disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public.

This provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use
to judge for themselves whether to buy, sell, or hold a particular security.

Only through the steady flow of timely, comprehensive, and accurate information
can people make sound investment decisions.

..the SEC is concerned primarily with promoting the disclosure
of important market-related information, maintaining fair dealing,
and protecting against fraud.

...Though it is the primary overseer and regulator of the U.S. securities markets,
the SEC works closely with many other institutions, including Congress,
other federal departments and agencies, ...state securities regulators,
and various private sector organizations.

In particular, the Chairman of the SEC, together with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve,
the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
serves as a member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.

...Congress — during the peak year of the Depression — passed the Securities Act of 1933.

This law, together with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which created the SEC,
was designed to restore investor confidence in our capital markets
by providing investors and the markets with more reliable information
and clear rules of honest dealing.

The main purposes of these laws can be reduced to two common-sense notions:

Companies publicly offering securities for investment dollars
must tell the public the truth about their businesses, the securities they are selling,
and the risks involved in investing.

People who sell and trade securities – brokers, dealers, and exchanges
– must treat investors fairly and honestly, putting investors' interests first.

Congress established the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934
to enforce the newly-passed securities laws, to promote stability in the markets
and, most importantly, to protect investors."

"SIFMA Fiduciary Standard Resource Center

A fiduciary relationship
is generally viewed as the highest standard of customer care available under law.

Fiduciary duty includes both a duty of care and a duty of loyalty.

Collectively, and generally speaking,
these duties require a fiduciary to act in the best interest of the customer,
and to provide full and fair disclosure of material facts and conflicts of interest."


THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COMPLIANCE PROFESSIONALS, INC. CODE OF ETHICS

...Compliance Professionals play a key role in monitoring, testing, and reporting on
the compliance systems in financial services firms.

Compliance Professionals should act responsibly and ethically
in discharging these responsibilities.

...Compliance Professionals should seek to avoid coercion, deception, or undue influence
by any persons, both inside or outside their firm,
in connection with the Compliance Professional’s performance of his or her duties
and must report any instances of such conduct to appropriate senior management.

...If a Compliance Professional takes appropriate steps
to address a compliance violation but management fails to act effectively
and the Compliance Professional knows or has reason to know of that failure,
he or she should consider what additional steps are appropriate
to address the matter.

These steps may include disclosure of the matter
to the entity’s most senior management or board of directors, resignation from the firm,
or disclosure to regulatory authorities.

In the case of an attorney, the applicable Code of Professional Responsibility
and the Canons of Ethics may bear upon what course of conduct
that individual may properly pursue.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does your blog have a "mission statement"?

Has Wells Fargo brought up the fact to you that you are blogging about them while employed by them?

g said...

They are amazingly aware of most everthing occuring.

What is your "mission statement"?