Why haven’t we heard more about sexual harassment in the wealth management industry?
Amid countless, heart-wrenching accounts about the personal anguish and professional setbacks caused by unwelcome sexual behavior in the entertainment, media and manufacturing industries, I’ve been asking men and women in financial services this question.
Many have said something along the lines of what Financial Planning contributor Carolyn McClanahan writes in “How small financial advisories can prevent sexual harassment": Much of the abusive conduct in the industry was addressed or went underground after a slew of well-publicized cases in the 1990s.
But it hasn’t gone away. Case in point: News stories revealing that a well-connected prime brokerage executive at Bank of America, Omeed Malik, was forced out in January after an investigation of allegations by female employees that he made unwanted advances.
That means it’s more important to ask a different question: What will we do to assure more women and men are treated with respect in the workplace? While there is a long way to go, I’ve been encouraged to see some firms and executives take action.
Abigail Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Fidelity Investments, speaks during a presentation at the Securities Industry And Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) annual meting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. Over the last two months, Fidelity, one of the largest investment companies, has dismissed two portfolio managers -- one over allegations of inappropriate sexual comments and another over claims of sexually harassing a female junior employee. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
There’s much more progress to be made, and it will come with renewed, honest and unblinking examination.
Still, there’s much more progress to be made, and it will come with renewed, honest and unblinking examination.
When you look around your firm, have you done everything you could to root out and prevent possible sexual harassment? Asking this and other tough questions is just the beginning.
The group of rapidly expanding firms includes mainstays like LPL Financial, but also smaller upstarts that are enlarging their footprints at a notable clip.
Also this month in our disciplinary digest, a frequent CNBC analyst is sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding investors, and a former Fidelity advisor faced charges after borrowing millions from clients.
The question has turned into something of a paradox because of the related, but different, rise of RIAs and how that has affected independent brokerages.
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