Dallas-based Southwest Securities agreed to pay a $77,500 fine and restitution to investors to settled FINRA charges that it charged investors too much money for bond trades. Those charges are known as markups and markdowns and generally have not been disclosed to investors. The lack of disclosure has allowed many brokerage firms to line their pockets at investors’ expense. FINRA also found that Southwest’s supervisory system was inadequate to stop the practice of charging unfair and unreasonable prices on bond trades. A recent study shows that the form of securities fraud has happened on a broad scale, amounting to billions of dollars of excessive charges to investors.
