BrokerCheck

Frank Staltaro, a kitchen-cabinet maker, preaches the importance of researching stockbrokers before investing, rather than after a problem arises. He learned the hard way. Read the full story here.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority doesn’t make public all regulatory red flags it has about brokers, prompting calls for more expansive disclosure. Read the full story here.

State securities regulators are drawing up plans to allow information on problem stockbroker firms to be shared more effectively among them. Read the full story here.

Detailed maps and reports about the 16 stockbroker “hot spots” identified by The Journal. Read the full story here.

Journal reporters pieced together stockbroker records from 27 states detailing the disciplinary and employment histories of about 550,000, or 87%, of the country’s stockbrokers, over their careers. Many brokers were registered in multiple states. New York’s Office of the Attorney General didn’t provide 2014 data on customer complaints against brokers, so the analysis used the state’s complaints data from 2013. The other data in the analysis were compiled in the 2014 first half....

Stockbrokers who’ve been in trouble with regulators tend to cluster in certain places in the country where the affluent and elderly are easily accessible and where regulatory punishment is lax, a Wall Street Journal data analysis shows. The Journal found these hotspots in south Florida and Long Island, long known as havens for troubled brokers, but also in places around Detroit, Las Vegas and parts of California. The Journal’s analysis showed a total of 16 such hot spots....