PNC Investments (“PNC Investments”) (CRD#129052) has many different complaints filed by FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), state regulatory organizations, and investors such as yourself. At the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, we have investigated PNC Investments, its regulatory and customer complaints, and have also represented investors with claims of fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty against this organization and its financial advisors.
If you believe you have a claim against PNC Investments, you should strongly consider hiring an investment fraud lawyer. You should not wait until it’s too late to file a claim. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., offers free consultations. Give us a call at 800-732-2889. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.
Can I Sue PNC Investments?
If you’ve lost money caused by PNC Investments and/or its employees’ misconduct then the answer is, YES, you can sue PNC Investments, but the odds are you signed away your right to sue in court and agreed to resolve your dispute in a FINRA arbitration proceeding. Attorney Robert Wayne Pearce has over 40 years of personal experience in FINRA arbitration proceedings and knows very well how you can not only sue PNC Investments in FINRA arbitration proceedings but WIN that arbitration. The easiest way to know if you have a viable case against PNC Investments is to call Attorney Pearce at our office at 800-732-2889.
Investment Losses? We Can Help
Discuss your legal options with an attorney at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A.
or, give us a ring at (800) 732-2889.
What is PNC Investments?
PNC Investments (CRD#129052) is a registered broker-dealer. It operates as a full-service independent broker-dealer, providing a range of financial products and services to individual investors and financial advisors.
As a registered broker-dealer, PNC Investments is subject to regulations and oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It is required to comply with industry standards and regulations to ensure the protection of its clients’ interests.
A failure to comply with industry standards by either its brokers or the firm itself can result in disciplinary actions, fines, or other penalties imposed by regulatory authorities.
PNC Investments Has Many Different Regulatory Problems
PNC Investments’ rapid growth has not been without consequences. There have been approximately 8 state and self-regulatory body disclosure events; that is, final and formal proceedings initiated by a regulatory authority (e.g., a state or federal securities agency like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or self-regulatory body like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) for a violation(s) of investment-related rules or regulations. In addition, there have been customer complaints filed against PNC Investments for misconduct by its securities sales and investment advisory representatives that are not reported by the firm on its Central Depository Record.
We have reported and written about these regulatory problems and customer complaints over many years. PNC Investments is a repeat offender: there are over 8 FINRA-reported proceedings citing the firm with one form of supervisory lapses or another.
A Brief Overview of Some of the Regulatory Problems PNC Investments Has Faced Over the Years*
PNC Investments has been repeatedly censured, warned, and fined multi-millions of dollars for its own misconduct and failure to supervise its army of financial advisors.* A few of the notable FINRA Sanctions for its Supervisory Failures are below:
FINRA Censures PNC Investments for Failure to Apply Waivers to Mutual Fund Purchases by Eligible Customers
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, PNC Investments consented to the sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that the firm failed to reasonably supervise the application of sales charge waivers to eligible mutual fund sales. FINRA stated that the firm failed to apply the waivers to mutual fund purchases made by certain retirement plan customers that were eligible to purchase Class A Shares in certain mutual funds without a front-end sales charge, and instead sold them Class A shares with a front-end sales charge or Class B or Class C shares with back-end sales charges and higher ongoing fees and expenses. FINRA also stated that these sales disadvantaged eligible customers by causing such customers to pay higher fees than they were required to pay. Because of the failure of the firm to apply available sales charge waivers, eligible customers were overcharged by approximately $191,740 for mutual fund purchases. As a result, the firm was censured and ordered to pay restitution plus interest in excess of $220,000.
FINRA Censures and Fines PNC Investments for Failure to Apply Breakpoints to Eligible Unit Investment Trust Purchases
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, PNC Investments consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that the firm failed in 313 instances to apply an appropriate rollover or breakpoint discounts to eligible unit investment trust purchases for customers. Because of this omission, the firm overcharged customers a total of $52,040.12. FINRA also said the firm failed to adequately enforce its existing written supervisory procedures concerning breakpoint and rollover discounts on eligible UIT purchases. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $90,000.
FINRA Censures and Fines PNC Investments for Failure to Achieve Compliance FINRA Rules Regarding Leveraged and Inverse ETFs
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, PNC Investments consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings that the firm allegedly failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable NASD and FINRA rules or to provide adequate training to registered representatives and supervisors regarding leveraged, inverse, and inverse-leveraged ETFs. FINRA said non-traditional ETFs have certain risks that are not found in traditional ETFs, such as the risks associated with a daily reset, leverage, and compounding. Nonetheless, the firm supervised non-traditional ETFs the same way it supervised traditional ETFs. As a result, the firm consented to the imposition of a censure, a fine in the amount of $275,000, and restitution in excess of $33,000 plus interest.
FINRA Censures and Fines PNC Investments for Failure to Detect Errors in Mailing Addresses
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, PNC Investments consented to FINRA’s findings that the firm’s supervisory control system failed to specify a procedure to detect or prevent the establishment of a customer account using a branch office as the mailing address or the change of an existing account to use a branch office as the mailing address. According to FINRA, the firm’s supervisory control system failed to include exception reports that would have identified if a customer’s mailing address was the same as a branch office address. Thus, the firm failed to detect that a registered representative had initiated transactions to generate checks to a customer, which were sent to the branch where the registered representative worked, which he thereafter intercepted, and ultimately converted the funds. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $100,000.
FINRA Censures and Fines PNC Investments for Failure to Supervise Sales of Variable Annuities
Brief Overview: Without admitting or denying the findings, PNC Investments consented to the described sanctions and to the entry of FINRA findings the firm failed to have supervisory systems and procedures reasonably designed to achieve compliance with its suitability obligations relating to the sale of variable annuities. FINRA said the firm failed to collect or record all the information necessary for supervisors to assess suitability of variable annuity transactions, including the customer’s investment time horizon. FINRA also said the firm failed to give adequate guidance to supervisors regarding factors it had identified as relevant to a suitability analysis, including the age of the customer. As a result, the firm was censured and fined $250,000.
*Above are only some of the regulatory disciplinary actions filed against PNC Investments by FINRA. NASAA and other state securities regulator investigations and enforcement actions account for another 3 BrokerCheck disclosures.
PNC Investments Customer Complaints
There have been scores of customer complaints filed against PNC Investments stockbrokers and investment advisors over the years. We have launched many investigations of current and former PNC Investments advisors:
- Paresh Patel of PNC Investments
- Richard Passarelli of PNC Investments
- Derek Ghiotto of PNC Investments
- John Pestikas of PNC Investments
- Thomas Manelski of PNC Investments
- Virginia Jamka of PNC Investments
- David Woodward of PNC Investments
- Aaron Rice of PNC Investments
- Grace Henderson of PNC Investments
- Edward McCombs of PNC Investments
- Nikko Richardson of Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC
- Marcelo Ubal ofPNC Investments
- Russell Robinson of PNC Investments
If you have lost money investing with any of these PNC Investments advisors or others within this brokerage firm, it’s important that you reach out to an investment loss attorney quickly because the statutes of limitations can bar your claims. Call us at 800-732-2889.
Why Does PNC Investments Have So Many Regulatory Problems And Customer Complaints?
Sadly, many large brokerages like PNC Investments still lack effective compliance and supervision, which is critical for investor protection and capital market stability and integrity. Compliance challenges continue to grow every day and it’s difficult for even the largest well capitalized firms to keep up with them. This can be attributed to many factors.
Large brokerage firms are merging and consolidating creating larger, more diversified, and more dispersed organizations. The number of branch offices of broker-dealers like PNC Investments has been steadily escalating and firms are becoming more geographically diverse. The distance from the home office and the large number of offices can offer challenges to maintaining uniform, consistent, and complete compliance coverage.
Products offered by large wire houses like PNC Investments as well as their customer base are also becoming more diverse and more complex. When a firm sells products, its registered representatives are required to fully understand all the complexities and be able to convey them in an understandable way to the firm’s customers. This requires a devotion of resources to education. The increased diversity of activities in which the larger brokerage firms engage raises more potential conflicts of interest which are ignored. More and more confidential trade, financial and other information is available to brokerages and their employees and being misused.
As financial markets and products become more complex and as conflicts arise, the extra attention and resources that are necessary to promote compliance with the law through additional education of advisors, improved technology in compliance departments, and adequate staffing of branch level supervisors is sacrificed for the bottom line. The sad truth is many of the biggest broker dealers like PNC Investments have probably chosen profits for their shareholders over protection for their customers.
Did PNC Investments Advisor Misconduct Cause You Investment Losses?
When financial advisor misconduct has caused you to lose substantial value to your investment accounts, you have the right to seek reimbursement from the responsible parties. PNC Investments is responsible like any employer for its financial advisors acts and omissions. In addition, it has an independent duty to supervise its stockbrokers and investment advisors. These cases can be extremely complex, and so having the support of a reputable attorney who is experienced in recovering investment losses for investors is key to your success. Many customers make the mistake of contacting PNC Investments without representation with an attorney about their complaints and have their complaints denied.
Related Read: Can You Sue Your Brokerage Firm?
Investment Losses? We Can Help
Discuss your legal options with an attorney at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A.
or, give us a ring at (800) 732-2889.
Consult With An Attorney Who Recovers Investment Losses Caused By PNC Investments Today!
The investment loss attorneys at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., have helped countless investors over the last 40 years recover the losses from their investment accounts that were caused by broker negligence or misconduct. The firm has extensive experience with PNC Investments cases, and Attorney Pearce is committed to seeing that those responsible for the losses you have suffered are held fully accountable.
Give us a call at 800-732-2889. Let’s discuss your case and see what we can do to help you get the compensation you need and deserve.
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