SEC Hits Teachers Insurance Subsidiary With $97M Fine
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) $97 million for producing inaccurate and misleading statements and a failure to adequately disclose conflicts of interest to thousands of participants in TIAA record-kept employer-sponsored retirement plans (ESPs). The money from TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services LLC (TC Services) will be paid to investors and settles both the SEC case and one announced by the Office of the New York Attorney General (NYAG).
According to the SEC, between Jan. 1, 2013, and March 30, 2018, TC Services and its wealth management advisers (WMA) did not adequately disclose the full nature and extent of their conflicts of interest in recommending to clients that they roll over their retirement assets into a managed account program called Portfolio Advisor. They allege TC Services failed to adequately disclose compensation practices that incentivized the firm and its advisers to recommend Portfolio Advisor for reasons other than a client’s particular investment needs. TC Services also coached its advisers to say their recommendations were “objective” and “non-commissioned”.