Wall Street watchdog bars former Merrill Lynch broker Tom Buck

[July 29, 2015]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tom Buck, the former top Indiana securities broker who was fired by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in March, has been permanently barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, according to the regulator's BrokerCheck website.

In a settlement reached in the FINRA disciplinary proceeding, the Wall Street regulator said that Buck failed to assess the suitability of the fees he charged some clients, charging them on a commission basis in order to generate higher revenues and misleading them about the costs.

As a result, Buck is permanently barred from selling securities at FINRA member firms.

Buck did not respond to request for comment. In the settlement, Buck said he neither admitted nor denied alleged rule violations, and agreed not to speak publicly about the matter.

Buck, a 61-year-old former college linebacker, was fired by Merrill Lynch in March after working for the firm for more than 30 years in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 

Named the number one adviser in Indiana by Baron's in 2013, Buck's group managed $1.3 billion in client assets at the time he was terminated.

"Buck has pursued unethical and improper business practices which generated increased commissions and revenues and enhanced his status as a top-producing broker," FINRA wrote.

Buck, who worked with 15-20 other brokers and associates as The Buck Group, generated annual revenues of between $6 million and $10 million, with Buck's fees and commissions making up around 85 percent.

Unlike the majority of brokers' in his office, roughly four-fifths of the revenues Buck generated for the firm came from commissions, FINRA said.

In April, Buck was hired as a broker at Royal Bank of Canada's RBC Wealth Management.

Buck resigned from RBC on July 21, according to regulatory filings with FINRA. In a statement from RBC Wealth Management, the firm said that Buck misrepresented the incidents that led to his termination.

"These actions are entirely inconsistent with the representations he made to us during the hiring process and stem from conduct that occurred while Mr. Buck was employed with another firm," the firm said.

(Reporting By Elizabeth Dilts; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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