July 9 (Bloomberg) -- A set piece of Voltaire’s 18th
century masterpiece, “Candide,” is a scene in which the
British, after losing a battle, execute one of their own
admirals “pour encourager les autres.”
The analogy may be a bit heavy-handed, yet in many ways it
fits what Finra -- the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority,
Wall Street’s self-regulatory organization -- did to three
arbitrators who, in May 2011, had the temerity to find in favor
of a customer in a securities arbitration against Merrill Lynch,
the nation’s largest brokerage and a unit of Bank of America
Corp. After awarding the estate of the customer more than
$520,000 -- a large amount by arbitration standards --Finra
heard from unhappy Merrill executives and fired the arbitrators,
two of whom had many years of experience.
