BGC Financial

Kurta Law is investigating recommendations by brokers from BGC Financial, L.P. (CRD#: 19801). This brokerage firm has been the subject of multiple six-figure FINRA fines. BGC Financial is headquartered in New York, New York.

BGC Financial has operated under 24 names, including:

• Aurel, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Wolfe & Hurst, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Sunrise, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Precision, Poten Capital, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• NGKF Securities, MIS, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Mint Partners, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Maxcor, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.
• Maxcor Financial Inc.
• Maxcor (Division of Euro Brokers Inc.)
• Maxcor, Fenics, A Division of BGC Financial, L.P.

Fees and Conflicts of Interest

BGC Financial provides investors with information about fees and its conflicts of interest in its Customer Relationship Summary (Form CRS):

• You will be charged fees on each transaction, either in the form of commissions, commission equivalents, mark-ups/mark-downs, spreads, or other sales charges. These charges incentivize BGC Financial to encourage trading.
• Commissions are usually applied to stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and will be based on the number of shares transacted or the value of your investment.
• Mutual funds charge a fee that is typically incorporated into the purchase price.
• Mutual funds, money market funds, ETFs, and other investments also charge ongoing 12b-1 or administrative fees by their managers.
• BGC Financial receives compensation from its affiliates when it underwrites or sells their proprietary products (debt or equity securities). The firm also receives compensation from third parties when it sells their securities in connection with its investment banking business.
• BGC Financial may earn more money in transactions with you where it acts as principal.
• The firm may enter into revenue sharing agreements with broker-dealers or affiliates where they receive a portion of commissions charged on transactions or profits earned from firms that execute orders from BGC Financial clients.

Broker-Dealer Services

BGC Financial gives investors access to the following investment vehicles in addition to stocks and bonds. However, these products can feature an unsuitable degree of risk for some investors:

• Derivatives
• Fixed income investments
• Exchange-traded funds
• Mutual funds
• Money market funds

Regulatory Actions

Kurta Law wants investors to be aware of BGC Financial’s regulatory history, which the firm discloses on its detailed BrokerCheck page.

Alleged Supervisory Issues

On October 19, 2023, BGC Financial consented to the entry of findings that it allegedly failed to establish a supervisory system reasonably designed to detect spoofing and layering (types of fraud) in equity securities.

According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (AWC), the firm allegedly lacked procedures for identifying these types of fraud between December 2014 and January 2021.

The firm allegedly implemented automated surveillance in February 2021, but the AWC alleged that this surveillance was not designed to catch smaller-scale spoofing and layering.

BGC Financial consented to a censure and $200,000 fine. You can read the AWC here.

Alleged Regulation SHO Violations

On June 27, 2023, an AWC alleged that BGC Financial failed to include two proprietary accounts in its calculations of its overall net position in equity securities being sold, resulting in certain orders being mismarked under Regulation SHO Rule 200(f) from 2010-2019.

The AWC alleged that these proprietary accounts failed to meet the requirements for independent trading unit aggregation under Regulation SHO, which would have allowed the firm to exclude their positions in this way.

BGC Financial’s supervisory system was allegedly also not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with Regulation SHO.

The firm consented to a censure and $50,000 fine. You can access the AWC here.

Execution Time Misreporting Allegations

On January 20, 2023, BGC Financial consented to the entry of findings that it allegedly failed to report the time of execution in the finest increment of time captured by its system with regard to more than 3.5 million U.S. Treasury Securities transactions from January through October 2020.

According to an AWC, BGC Financial allegedly reported execution times to FINRA’s TRACE (Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine) in seconds, rather than the milliseconds its system used for capturing execution times.

The firm consented to a censure and $175,000 fine. You can read the AWC here.

TRACE Reporting Allegations

In an AWC filed on August 13, 2020, BGC Financial consented to the entry of findings that, in reports to TRACE, it allegedly reported incorrect time of trade execution for 506 transactions and reported 1,304 transactions that were not required to be reported.

BGC Financial consented to a censure, a fine of $100,000, and to undertake a revision of its Written Supervisory Procedures (WSPs). You can read the AWC here.

How Can Investors Recover Lost Funds from a Brokerage Firm?

If you have concerns about your broker’s conduct, talk to a securities attorney about seeking out FINRA arbitration. This is a quicker and cheaper alternative to civil court, and many brokerage firms require that investors resolve their disputes through FINRA arbitration.

Kurta Law Can Help

Investors who lost money working with a BGC Financial broker or advisor should reach out to an investment fraud lawyer for help. Our attorneys offer free case evaluations and do not charge a fee unless we win your case. Call (877) 600-0098 or email info@kurtalawfirm.com.