Ameriprise Financial Fined $850,000 for Wire Transfer Supervisory Failures
Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. (Ameriprise) submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for alleged supervisory failures in connection with wire transfers from customer brokerage accounts and the resulting conversion of over $370,000 by one of its registered representatives. Ameriprise is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and employs nearly 14,000 registered representatives in approximately 3,800 branch offices. FINRA found that from October 2011 to September 2013, a registered representative, working as an office manager, converted more than $370,000 from five Ameriprise customers. The customers happened to also be the registered representative’s family members, including his mother, step-father, grandparents and domestic partner. FINRA’s findings state that the Ameriprise employee’s conversion, which occurred via nine wire transfers, went undetected for two years by Ameriprise.
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