Finra Slams J.P. Morgan Securities Over Background Check Failures
J.P. Morgan recently was fined $1.25 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for failing to conduct “timely or adequate background checks” on about 95% of its registered associated persons.
The company failed to fingerprint 2,000 of its non-registered associated persons in a timely manner, preventing the firm from determining whether those persons could have been deemed unsuitable to work at the firm. In addition, the firm limited its screening to criminal convictions specified in federal banking laws and an internally created list for other non-registered associated persons. In total, FINRA alleged J.P. Morgan did not appropriately screen 8,600 individuals for all felony convictions or for disciplinary actions by financial regulators.