Selling Away

Brokerage firms have “platforms” of available financial products that their financial advisors are authorized to sell to their customers.  Brokerage firms only make these financial products available to customers after the firm has engaged in a due diligence process to ensure the products that make up their platform are suitable for someone, depending on their investment objectives and risk tolerance.

Selling away occurs when a financial advisor sells a product or investment vehicle that their brokerage firm does not include on its platform.  Selling away is problematic because the brokerage firm cannot properly supervise the financial advisor when he or she sells something that the brokerage firm neither knows about and on which the brokerage firm has not performed due diligence.