NASD launches Internet site on brokers
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Association of Securities
Dealers on Thursday launched a $50 million Internet site that allows
investors to find out if a broker has tangled with the NASD's regulatory
arm.
''The more information you have about the person you're entrusting
your life's savings to, the better,'' said Nancy Condon, spokeswoman
for NASD Regulation (NASDR).
Users can search the site either by firm or by a broker's name.
Information currently available at the site, approved by the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, includes criminal convictions,
bankruptcies, suspensions, civil actions and customer complaints.
The data comes from a central registration depository, a databank.
By the third quarter, the NASDR said, the site will also provide data on
current investigations that involve criminal or regulatory actions, broker
settlements worth over $10,000, pending arbitration, and pending written
customer complaints worth over $5,000. The complaints would stay on
the system for 24 months, it said.
Some brokers have complained that they could be tainted by unfair
complaints, but the NASDR said the site information would include
unedited comments from both sides, allowing a brokers to tell his side of
the story.
The site can be accessed directly at
pdpi.nasdr.com or through
nasdr.com.
The NASD, parent of the Nasdaq stock market, currently runs a
toll-free telephone number investors can call to check a broker's
history.
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