[Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the amount that must be paid to two client by UBS in the headline.]
UBS Financial Services must pay nearly $371,000 in compensatory damages, expert witness fees and other legal costs to a pair of clients who alleged the firm's Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) — which focused on options-based trading — was presented to them as low-risk, when it actually exposed them to significant risk of loss, according to a recent FINRA arbitration award.
In the statement of claim, Matthew V. Fisher and Lisa G. Fisher asserted that UBS was guilty of "negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligent supervision, and violation of the Ohio Securities Act" regarding the YES options strategy.
UBS declined to comment Monday on the matter. Jeffrey B. Kaplan of the law firm Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, one of the attorneys representing the clients, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The amount awarded to the claimants by the three-person arbitration panel was significantly less than the $1.7 million in total requested by the claimants at the arbitration hearing.
