BOCA RATON, Fla., July 13, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silver Law Group (www.silverlaw.com), a preeminent investor protection law firm, is investigating JP Morgan Chase's ("JP Morgan") sales practices relating to proprietary mutual funds. The investigation focuses on JP Morgan's marketing and promotion of its own mutual funds over better performing mutual funds by its competitors.
On July 11, 2012, The New York Times reported that regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, have opened inquires into JP Morgan's sales practices. Regulators are concerned that JP Morgan has created a conflict of interest in favoring its own mutual funds for the bank's profit motives rather than focusing on its clients' bests interests.
According to news reports, former and present JP Morgan financial advisers are coming forward and disclosing that they were pressured to sell JP Morgan's products regardless of whether better performing options were available. According to a Morningstar researcher, for the past three years, approximately 42 percent of JP Morgan's mutual funds failed to beat the average performance of funds that make similar investments. Nonetheless, JP Morgan continued to push its products, putting its interests before those of its clients.
JP Morgan also heavily promoted to its clients a core product, the Chase Strategic Portfolio. The Chase Strategic Portfolio is intended to offer investors a bundle of products, including mutual funds which are predominantly JP Morgan's own mutual funds. JP Morgan receives two layers of fees for this product. On top of the management fee of as much as 1.6 percent of assets annually, JP Morgan is also collecting fees for the underlying proprietary mutual funds bundled in the product. According to the New York Times, JP Morgan also provided Chase Strategic Portfolio investors with marketing materials which contained theoretical returns, even though actual three-year returns existed, which were lower.
If you invested in JP Morgan's mutual funds or the Chase Strategic Portfolio and would like to discuss your legal rights, please contact Scott Silver for additional information:
Scott L. Silver, Esq.
Silver Law Group
Toll Free: (855) 755-4799
ssilver@silverlaw.com
www.silverlaw.com
Silver Law Group is a nationally-recognized securities law firm headquartered in South Florida, with a satellite office in New York, representing investors worldwide with their claims for losses due to stockbroker misconduct and brokerage firm negligence in securities litigation and arbitration matters, class actions and whistleblower claims.
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