投资顾问公司隐瞒关联经纪商分成又用误导性免责条款：证监会和解结案、缴款逾36万美元
华盛顿消息：美国证券交易委员会（SEC）10月30日宣布，已与注册投资顾问 Snowden Capital Advisors LLC 就多项指控达成和解结案。该公司被指在多年间没有向零售顾问客户充分披露利益冲突，还在顾问协议中写入带有误导性的责任免除条款。
SEC 的裁定书说，至少从 2018 年 2 月到 2023 年 3 月，Snowden Capital 从未告诉顾问客户：其关联经纪商会调高保证金利率，并把加价部分作为报酬从清算公司收取，这笔钱来自经纪客户保证金账户的余额。部分经纪客户同时也是该公司的顾问客户，但公司同样没有披露这笔报酬带来的实际与潜在利益冲突。
裁定书还认定，2018 年 2 月至 2020 年 6 月间，该公司没有就另一项冲突作出充分披露：其关联经纪商按顾问客户投入现金清扫货币市场基金的资产，从清算公司收取收入分成。
另一项问题出在合同条款上。SEC 认定，至少从 2019 年 7 月起，Snowden Capital 在与零售客户的顾问协议中使用了一种被称为「对冲条款」（hedge clause）的责任免除文字，字面意思是限制公司承担的责任。SEC 认为，这类文字通读下来与投资顾问的受托责任不一致，可能误导零售客户放弃行使不可放弃的权利。公司在 2023 年 6 月已经自订书面政策、禁止客户协议出现可能误导客户的此类条款，却没有据此修订既有客户协议。
SEC 裁定该公司故意违反《1940 年投资顾问法》第 206(2) 条、第 206(4) 条及据此制定的 Rule 206(4)-7。Snowden Capital 在不承认 SEC 认定结论的情况下，同意接受停止令与谴责，缴付吐利 226,316.99 美元、判决前利息 38,273.31 美元和民事罚款 100,000 美元，合计逾 36 万美元；SEC 表示，这笔款项将分配给受影响的客户。此案由 SEC 纽约地区办公室的 Peter Altenbach 与 Danielle Sallah 查办，Lindsay Moilanen 与 Thomas P. Smith, Jr. 督导。（来源：美国证券交易委员会）
Adviser Hid Affiliate's Revenue Sharing and Used a Misleading Liability Disclaimer: SEC Settles Charges for More Than $360,000
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on October 30 that it has instituted settled charges against Snowden Capital Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser, for breaches of its fiduciary duty to its retail advisory clients and for including misleading liability disclaimer language in its retail advisory agreements.
According to the SEC's order, from at least February 2018 through March 2023, Snowden Capital made no disclosure to its advisory clients that its affiliated broker-dealer was marking up margin interest rates and receiving those amounts as compensation from its clearing firm for margin balances in its brokerage customers' margin accounts. Some of those brokerage customers were also the firm's advisory clients, and the firm likewise did not disclose the actual and potential conflicts of interest created by that compensation.
The order further finds that, from February 2018 through June 2020, the firm did not provide full and fair disclosure of conflicts tied to revenue its affiliated broker-dealer received from its clearing firm based on advisory clients' assets invested in cash sweep money market funds.
A second problem involved contract language. The SEC found that, from at least July 2019, Snowden Capital used a hedge clause in advisory agreements with retail clients that purported to limit the firm's liability. Read in its entirety, the SEC said, that language is inconsistent with an adviser's fiduciary duty because it may mislead retail clients into not exercising their non-waivable rights. The firm also failed to revise its client agreements even after adopting written policies in June 2023 prohibiting hedge clauses likely to mislead clients about its liability.
The SEC found that Snowden Capital willfully violated Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder. Without admitting the SEC's findings, the firm consented to a cease-and-desist order and a censure, and agreed to pay $226,316.99 in disgorgement, $38,273.31 in prejudgment interest and a $100,000 civil penalty, more than $360,000 in total. The SEC said the ordered monetary relief will be distributed to affected clients. The investigation was conducted by Peter Altenbach and Danielle Sallah of the SEC's New York Regional Office, supervised by Lindsay Moilanen and Thomas P. Smith, Jr. (Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
来源：美国证券交易委员会
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于华盛顿的美国证券交易委员会（SEC）总部大楼正门。AgnosticPreachersKid 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington. By AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
