The safety of your money is top priority.  It is important for you to know where your funds are held and who is actually handling your assets.  We create a firewall between ourselves and our clients assets.  Funds are held at Fidelity.

Fidelity Bond

A second client asset protection coverage provided by the financial services industry is the fidelity or financial institution bond. This coverage is designed to cover non-insolvency problems such as employee or systems theft, fraud, or loss of assets. Both WFG and its clearing firms subscribe to the coverage but at different levels.

WFG Investments, Inc. carries a broker/dealer fidelity bond which covers asset movement of its clients up to the $1,000,000 level. Additionally,  WFG Investments’ procedures dictate that any transfer of assets transferred to an outside custodian, must be transmitted to an account with the same name, address, and tax ID as the existing account held by NFS or Pershing (exceptions would require an approved Letter Of Authorization).

WFG’s clearing firms, NFS and Pershing, provide fidelity bond coverage up to $1 billion through a consortium of insurance carriers led by Lloyds of London. That coverage applies to any assets held at the clearing firms on behalf of WFG clients. Any asset movement for a WFG client that has been approved by NFS and Pershing becomes the liability of the clearing firm and if proven to be fraudulent, is covered by the clearing firm’s fidelity bond.

It is therefore a requirement of WFG to have any client asset movement over $100,000 be approved by NFS or Pershing before it is enacted. A Letter of Authorization (LOA) is required by WFG from the client requesting the transfer and this LOA is then transmitted to the clearing firm for approval.

Note:  Fidelity Bond coverage does not insure against any decline in the market  value of your investments.

Sophisticated Fire Wall Systems

The only other fraudulent act that can occur regarding client’s assets is one not initiated by fraudulent instructions, but one initiated electronically from an anonymous source. The first line of defense for this is extensive and sophisticated fire wall systems built and maintained by both NFS and Pershing as the custodian level and by WFG Investments at the broker/dealer level.

Additionally, the compliance procedures of all firms require a thorough review of all transfer requests and other actions throughout the system.

Any successful fraudulent act generated from any source upon the assets of WFG clients held with NFS or Pershing as the custodian would be covered by the clearing firm at the $100 million level.

Compliance Procedures

At each level of coverage, the WFG Investments’ compliance procedures are designed to provide our clients with the optimal amount of protection. By implementing policies  to accept no money or securities in the broker/dealer’s name and to verify custodian approval of all asset transactions, our client’s assets are not only protected by our insurance, but that of our custodian firms as well.

Securities offered through WFG Investments, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC