tailieunhanh - PROTECTING SENIOR INVESTORS: REPORT OF EXAMINATIONS OF SECURITIES FIRMS PROVIDING “FREE LUNCH” SALES SEMINARS

In any case, we offer one additional combined specification that completely avoids concerns about cross-sectional dependence in returns. Specifically, we provide results for a portfolio, where each daily return is an equally weighted average of the corresponding daily returns for the G-7 stock indexes. Not surprisingly, the mean daily returns are very similar to those for the pooled results, with a nearly identical difference in returns of percent. The t-statistic for the difference is , which is significant at the level. However, the persistence results for both the pooled and the equal- weighted specification are. | PROTECTING SENIOR INVESTORS REPORT OF EXAMINATIONS OF SECURITIES FIRMS PROVIDING FREE LUNCH SALES SEMINARS BY THE OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE INSPECTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION FINANCIAL INDUSTRY REGULATORY AUTHORITY SEPTEMBER 2007 I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY With the aging of the baby boom generation a growing number of our nation s investors are at or near retirement age. Indeed data presented at the first Seniors Summit held by the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC in July 2006 indicated that 75 of the nation s consumer financial assets valued at 16 trillion are held by households headed by someone who is 50 or older. Within the next 20 years 75 million people will have celebrated their 60th birthday. Because these senior investors are a growing segment of investors financial services firms are increasingly focusing their marketing and sales of investment products towards the senior investor or those investors nearing retirement age. Within this broader context securities regulators are concerned about the possibility of unscrupulous and abusive sales practices and investment frauds targeted towards senior investors. In fact some data indicates that although individuals aged 60 or older make up 15 of the . population they account for 30 of fraud In response to this concern in May 2006 the SEC and the North American Securities Administrators Association NASAA announced a coordinated national initiative designed to protect seniors from investment fraud and sales of unsuitable Working together with the NASD and the NYSE Member Regulation Inc. now consolidated as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA the SEC and NASAA initiative includes three components active investor education and outreach to seniors and those nearing retirement age targeted examinations to detect abusive sales tactics aimed at seniors and aggressive enforcement of securities .