Edward Jones Agrees To Pay $20 Million SEC Fine, Highlighting Larger Issue

When brokerage firm Edward Jones agreed to pay over $20 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges it overpriced new issues of municipal bonds, neglecting to mention the additional fees to clients, in doing so it opened up a larger regulatory issue. In the wake of the brokerage firm’s failure to disclose fees, the SEC revealed a potential hole in regulatory rules that do not require dealers to disclose their markups on such offerings – and the SEC wants to see regulatory action taken on the issue, as it looks at FINRA and another regulator to get the job done.  …