A Wall Street regulator fined a Morgan Stanley wealth management unit $5 million on Tuesday for supervisory failures related to the sale of shares to retail customers in 83 initial public offerings, including Facebook Inc and Yelp Inc.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-funded regulator, said Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC lacked adequate procedures and training to ensure that sales staff distinguished between "indications of interest" and "conditional offers" when soliciting investors for IPOs whose registration statements had not yet become effective.Finra said the lapses occurred from Feb. 16, 2012, to May 1, 2013.The regulator said the unit treated the phrases interchangeably, even though indications of interest lead to share purchases only if investors reconfirm them, while conditional offers to purchase can result in binding share purchases unless investors revoke them.
Facebook, Inc. (Facebook) is engaged in building products to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. Shares of FB fell by 1.85% or $-1.13/share to $60.09. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.67 and as high as $72.59. On average, 69834096 shares of FB exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 24221992.
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides its products and services to a range of clients and customers, including corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals. Shares of MS fell by 1.43% or $-0.43/share to $29.64. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $23.01 and as high as $33.52. On average, 12717800 shares of MS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6130088.
Yelp Inc. connects people with great local businesses. Shares of YELP fell by 6.75% or $-4.06/share to $56.13. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $26.75 and as high as $101.75. On average, 5427100 shares of YELP exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 4924388.
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