Prudential Affiliate Is Fined for Misstatements
January 21, 2020 by Anne Tergesen
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulatory arm, disclosed a $1 million fine against an affiliate of Prudential Financial Inc. PRU -1.66% on Tuesday for providing potentially thousands of workers in some of the retirement plans it administers with inaccurate data on the cost and performance of their investments.
The misstatements, which occurred over as many as two decades, caused investment fees to be understated by as much as 50%, compared to the total actual costs in some instances, according to a settlement Finra entered into with Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, a broker-dealer affiliated with the Newark, N.J.-based insurer.
This created “the risk that sponsors and participants would make investment decisions based” on inaccurate information, the agreement said.
