The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has released its latest dispute resolution statistics through May 2023, Financial Advisor reports.
According to FINRA, the number of arbitrations has risen 37% from this time in 2022. Customer claims have gone up 20% through the end of last month. Breach of fiduciary was cited as the most frequent customer allegation with a total of 621 cases, up from 485 at this time last year. The number of industry disputes was 64% higher than in May 2022.
Breach of Regulation Best Interest violations showed a sharp increase from 37 through May of last year to 181 in 2023.
FINRA’s report listed the top 10 claims by customers who have taken their disputes to arbitration. They are breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, failure to supervise, misrepresentation, suitability, omission of facts, fraud, violation of blue sky laws and breach of Regulation BI. Of the security types in customer arbitrations, the most claims involved common stock, followed by corporate bonds and mutual funds.
Among intra-industry arbitrations, the highest number of claims involved breach of contract violations with 98 cases filed through May. That was followed by promissory note claims, libel or slander on termination forms (U-5), defamation, libel, slander or defamation, wrongful termination, commission disputes, discrimination and harassment, raiding disputes and indemnification.
FINRA’s report also broke down the manner in which claims were resolved, with about 48% settled directly by the parties involved. Mediation was used to adjudicate the disputes in 19% of the cases and 8% were withdrawn. In the cases that were decided by arbitrators, 16% were resolved after a regular hearing, 3% after a review of documents, and 1% after a special proceeding hearing.
At Lewitas Hyman, our attorneys have handled hundreds of arbitrations before FINRA, , the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, JAMS, the American Arbitration Association and other self-regulatory organizations nationwide. We have also appeared in courts throughout the United States in various types of securities-related matters. For more information about our arbitration and litigation services, please contact us at (888) 655-6002 or through our online contact form.
