Investment & Securities Disputes

Advisers must know their client — your circumstances, objectives, time horizon and risk tolerance — and recommend investments consistent with them. Your account-opening documents and risk questionnaire are usually the decisive evidence.

Request that file early. A common pattern in successful complaints is a risk profile recorded as conservative alongside a portfolio concentrated in speculative or illiquid holdings, or leverage that was never explained.

Trades made without authority, excessive trading that generates commissions, and discretionary activity in a non-discretionary account are all distinct from a bad market call. Statements and trade confirmations establish these.

Fee and conflict disclosure is a separate obligation. Embedded compensation, proprietary-product incentives and referral arrangements should have been disclosed clearly — and inadequate disclosure is itself a ground of complaint.

Complain to the firm in writing first, addressed to its designated complaints officer, and request the KYC file, statements and correspondence. Firms have obligations to handle and respond to complaints.

Then escalate to the self-regulatory organization overseeing dealers, or the external ombudsman for banking and investments, which reviews individual disputes at no cost within its mandate and limits. Court and arbitration remain available subject to limitation periods.

Discretionary mandates, private placements, structured products and portfolio leverage raise suitability and fiduciary questions of a different order, and exempt-market investments often fall outside the protections retail investors assume they have.

Where a trust, holding company or family office is the account holder, the duties owed and who can complain become more complex. These matters usually warrant legal advice rather than the standard complaint route alone.