NASD Launches Online Program To File Complaints About Brokers
Date: 8/23/96
WASHINGTON - Investors will be able to file online complaints about brokers by mid-September through the new World Wide Web site of the National Association of Securities Dealers' regulatory unit.
Mary Schapiro, the regulatory unit's president, yesterday launched NASD Regulation's home page on the Web by saying it now offers ''a basic primer'' on broker regulation and how to file complaints.
''We want to use the latest technology to make it as easy as possible for the investing public to get the information and help they need,'' she said.
Schapiro, a former Securities and Exchange Commissioner known as a tough regulator, also said yesterday investors also will be able at some point to obtain brokers' disciplinary histories through the NASD Regulation home page, which can be accessed through the Internet address nasdr.com.
NASD, an industry body that polices all U.S. brokers and runs the Nasdaq Stock Market, also has begun an investor education program about the risks and benefits of using online services as investment tools, Schapiro said.
The notion of an educational program began several months ago when NASD found that Comparator Systems Corp. and other small companies may have spurred investments in their questionable stocks by touting them on the Internet, Schapiro said.
The NASD announcement comes a day after a General Accounting Office report was released recommending that NASD disclose more about brokers' disciplinary histories on its telephone hotline. The NASD also should publicize the hotline more widely, Congress' research arm said.
An NASD-appointed commission led by former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire found last fall that only about 2 percent of investor complaints led to NASD disciplinary actions. Schapiro, who was appointed in February, has been trying to make the industry body more responsive to investors.
Under the program, Motley Fool, a forum on America Online Inc. known as a haven for rumor mongering about stocks, agreed to post consumer warnings and will set up an e-mail connection for investors to complain to NASD Regulation. CompuServe Inc.'s Investor Forum and Prodigy's Money Talk Bulletin also posted warning messages. |
