State securities regulators, on June 9, 2025, announced a broad settlement for brokerage overcharges. Please contact us if you believe you have been a victim of brokerage overcharges.
The regulator settlement resulted from an investigation conducted by state securities regulators into the practice of charging unreasonable commissions to retail customers on small dollar transactions by Edward Jones, LPL Financial, RBC, Stifel and TD Ameritrade. In the five-year period covered by the investigation, data shows that, nationwide, the firms charged approximately $19 million to process 1.12 million small dollar equity transactions and trades.
The firms violated, per the regulator allegations, state securities laws by imposing minimum commission charges on small principal trades, contrary to industry standards as by FINRA, the industry self-regulatory organization. These charges often exceeded 5%. Further, in several cases, the minimum charges ranged from $25 to $95 per trade, disproportionately impacting trades with low principal amounts.
The investigation was led by regulators in Alabama, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Texas, and Washington. The regulators found that the five firms charged unreasonable commissions to thousands of retail brokerage customers on certain equity transactions. At this time, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin intend to join the settlement.
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