Sense on Cents

Just as you cannot fight City Hall, many people are also well aware that you cannot really fight Wall Street.

When disputes on Wall Street are adjudicated through a system of arbitration, the stacked deck against which investors — and Wall Street employees as well — are forced to contest can only be properly compared to a kangaroo court.

I am very pleased to see that the kangaroos are receiving a lot more attention lately. Recall that the SEC’s own commissioner Luis Aguilar recently called for an end to mandatory arbitration. In the following 8 minute clip presented by Investment News, we witness a few industry lap dogs repeating the party line as to why arbitration should be maintained. Heath Abshure, the Arkansas securities commissioner and current President of the North American Securities Administrators Association, presents a strong counter argument. 

I do not believe that ending the mandatory Wall Street arbitration system — like many things on Wall Street and in Washington — is a fight that can be won behind closed doors. The sunshine of transparency remains the great disinfectant needed to clean the kangaroo cage disguised as Wall Street arbitration.

I firmly believe that investors and Wall Street employees alike should have the option of taking their case into the court system — including small claims court — if so desired.

Would love to hear from those who have been involved in a Wall Street arbitration and have lived to talk about it.

Navigate accordingly.

Larry Doyle

For those reading this via a syndicated outlet or receiving it via e-mail or another delivery, you can access the video clip here. Please visit my blog and comment on this piece of ‘sense on cents‘.

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I have no business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 12th, 2013 at 7:29 AM and is filed under arbitration, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.