If you suffered losses with Signature Investors, please call toll-free 1-866-817-0201. Signature Investors, Inc. entered into regulatory settlement agreement in which the firm was censured and fined $450,000. These fines were in connection with allegations that Signature failed to supervise its brokers to prevent the sale of unapproved investments by its brokers.
Additionally, its broker Joseph Gregory Mitchell of Loudon, Tennessee, was assessed a deferred fine of $10,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any supervisory capacity for seven months.
Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm and Mitchell consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that the firm failed to establish, maintain and enforce a reasonable supervisory system, including WSPs, regarding its registered representatives use of consolidated reports. The findings stated that Mitchell failed to enforce the firm’s policies and procedures related to client file reviews and branch audits by providing advance notice of which client files would be reviewed, as well as advance notice of unannounced branch audits to registered representatives. The firm made a consolidated reporting system available to its registered representatives that allowed the representatives to enter customized values for assets and accounts held away from the firm into a consolidated report. However, the firm did not have an adequate supervisory system to review the reports, including the accuracy of manually entered valuations provided to the customers. The firm’s procedures did not contain any reference to, or discussion of, supervising consolidated reports or the use of the system. In fact, the firm did not have a review process for the consolidated reports. The lack of procedures led to confusion among firm supervisors regarding who was responsible for reviewing the consolidated reports.
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