Earlier this month, UBS Financial Services terminated its relationship with one of its top brokers, Craig Findley, a Managing Director of the Touchstone Wealth Partners group. According to the Form U5 filed by UBS, Mr. Findley "is charged for violation of several firm policies including, but not limited to, those involving training, outside activities and reporting of business travel / non-sales and non-client related. Prior to the U5 filing, Mr. Findley had a clean disciplinary record throughout his 26 years in the business.

 

According to a report in AdvisorHub, Mr. Findley, 49, operated a 30-plus person team in three states that reportedly oversaw $6.1 billion of customer assets, was credited with $1.1 billion of those assets and served as co-chair of a committee advising UBS management on concerns and priorities of the firm’s 6,000-plus U.S. brokers, according to his team’s former website and sources familiar with his practice. He also ranked as one of Barron’s Top 1200 Advisors for eight of the past nine years, and was cited as well in other industry polls.

 

Needless to say, the 'for cause' dismissal "raised eyebrows because of his internal prominence and because of UBS Wealth Management USA's focus on retaining high producers ...,"

 

Given its protocol, FINRA will follow up with an investigation to determine if Mr. Findley conducted himself in a violative manner.