UBS to Pay $1.2M Over Widow’s Variable Annuity Claim

UBS Wealth Management USA was ordered to pay more than $1.2 million over allegations that a Florida broker improperly recommended purchasing a variable annuity with retirement funds. A panel of three public Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitrators ordered that UBS pay $1.17 million in compensatory damages as well as $36,300 in costs, according to an award on Thursday. The panel also assessed almost $10,300 in hearing session fees to UBS, leaving the remaining $562 for the customer. The client also alleged that margin was used in her account. She made claims of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty among others, and sought up to $2 million in damages, according to the award. A spokesperson for UBS, which denied the allegations, declined to comment. A person familiar with the company’s thinking said that the annuity was purchased in 2013 as part of the client’s financial plan and continues to provide ongoing monthly income. In addition, the funds that were lent on margin were not used to purchase securities but were used to purchase a home, according to the source. The panelists did not provide an in-depth explanation for their ruling, as is customary unless both parties request it. Bruce D. Oakes of Oakes & Fosher in St. Louis, Missouri, said that his client was satisfied with the outcome of the award. He said the panel appeared to agree the broker had violated his fiduciary duty to the customer, a widow, and that they considered how the account would have performed had it been properly invested. “She was a very deserving claimant, and the devastation of losing her husband was magnified by the actions of the advisor and UBS,” Oakes said in a statement. The broker is not named in the award but appears based on public BrokerCheck records to be John H. Saunders, a 32-year industry veteran who in 2023 was Forbse ranked as being part of a top private wealth team with $1.8 billion in assets. Saunders, who works from Virginia and Florida, could not immediately be reached for comment. Separately, UBS last week lost its bid to overturn a $92 million decision in a separate case involving a Wisconsin broker’s recommendation to short Tesla stock. Whats the issue with the recommendation? A retirement account. Margin? One is not allowed in the other. So what’s the real and complete story. Advisor Hub needs better reporting, and FINRA needs to release details if the ruling is to serve as information to not only advisors but also the general public. I am not an annuity fan, in many cases, but I concede that they can be perfectly appropriate in a retirement plan. I sometimes hear “It’s tax-deferred within a tax-deferred account, so unneeded/inappropriate”. That’s not necessarily true that it doesn’t make sense just because they both have tax deferral. I’d love to hear the logic behind this one.