Question

An investment advisory firm does its own research, using a group of dedicated employees and has a separate staff of investment adviser representatives (IARs) who solicit new accounts. In an effort to maintain confidentiality between the research staff and sales staff, the investment adviser MUST:

Answer 1

OPTIONS:

A. establish a Chinese Wall between the research personnel and the sales personnel

B. register both the research personnel and the sales personnel in each State where the IA's services are offered

C. cross-train the research personnel and the sales personnel in each other's functions so that in the event of a confidentiality breach, one can take over the functions of the other

D. establish two separate IA firms registered with the State with one only having research personnel and the other only having sales personnel

Answer: A. establish a Chinese Wall between the research personnel and the sales personnel

Explanation: In a bid to maintain confidentiality and avoid leakage of vital information, there must be a barrier between the research personnels who makes findings on investment opportunities and packages for client needs and the sales personnels. This is because, research and investment informations are treated as classified and leakage could lead to bias, whereby some consumers will get the information and make moves before other consumers are informed via official release by the firm.