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Our Law Firm is investigating the sales practices and due diligence of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) brokerage firms who solicited customers to purchase CIT InterNotes. CIT Group issued these debt instruments which were marketed by several brokerage firms to retail investors as safe, conservative investments. Investors have reported that their advisors represented that there was “no market risk” to these products. Moreover, to make these products more appealing to retired and elderly investors, they were told that if they passed away, the notes would revert back to par. This feature, also known as a “death put” or a “survivor’s option” allows the bondholders’ survivors to sell the bonds back to the issuer at face value. However, due to the collapse and bankruptcy of CIT Group, the “death put” feature may have no value, and the liquidity of the CIT InterNotes is questionable.
The sales of the CIT InterNotes are now under scrutiny by FINRA. Specifically, the regulatory body is examining the sales practices of brokerage firms who sold these products to their customers, and it is following up on “concerns about prospectus matters.” According to Herb Perrone of FINRA “This is something that is on our radar screen and we are looking into it and are conducting examinations and some investigations.” Under FINRA Rules, brokerage firms have an obligation to make suitable recommendations to their customers, disclose the risks associated with the investment, and to conduct adequate due diligence into the investment.
Various brokerage firms marketed CIT InterNotes to investors including Banc of America Securities, Incapital, Wachovia Securities n/k/a Wells Fargo Advisors, Edward Jones, UBS, RBC Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns n/k/a JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Raymond James.