Checklist: Was your complaint handled fairly?

It's no secret- investment dealers hate to admit they provided bad financial advice. They will try very hard to avoid accountability for losses.

The industry has a longstanding over reliance on form documents such as disclosure forms, agreements, account statements and KYC forms, seeking to meet regulatory KYC and suitability obligations; however, more and more, courts and regulators are looking to the record of direct communications between the advisor and client to assess the degree to which the advisor's recommendations and the client's instructions were truly informed regarding risk and suitability issues. In some cases the 'paper' is not a barrier to the imposition of liability for losses sustained by the client.That should be your mindset as you assess the dealer's response letter.

You should assume the relationship between you and the complaint investigators is adversarial regardless of the soothing words of fairness and unbiased investigation. Some very smart seasoned people are reviewing your complaint to ensure the dealer is immunized from providing restitution. This Checklist should help you determine just how objective the investigation has been  Read the Checklist here.  

Related readings :

Calculation of Damages: Securities Fraud & Protection Resource Center http://www.securitieslaw.com/information/calculation-of-damages.asp

Resolving Investor Disputes : Is your Advisor to Blame?

http://www.robertson-devir.com/pdf/Is%20Your%20Advisor%20to%20Blame.pdf

Compensation for Retail Investors :The Social impact of Monetary Loss https://www.asic.gov.au/media/1343636/rep240-published-May-2011.pdf