Wells Fargo smacked with sweeps suit; Ameriprise accuses LPL of shady recruiting practices; protecting family offices against cybercrime

REGULATION AND COMPLIANCE: Add Wells Fargo to the list of firms being sued over the low returns offered on their "cash sweeps" policies.

A lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco on the behalf of a plaintiff named Keith Bujold accuses the wirehouse of failing to look out for its clients' best interests with its policy of "sweeping" their uninvested cash into bank accounts that offer far lower yields than easily available alternatives. The suit is being pressed by the same law firms bringing similar claims against LPL Financial in a separate case and comes amid related legal actions against Morgan Stanley, Merrill and Ameriprise.

Read: Wells latest to be hit with ‘cash sweeps’ lawsuit

INDUSTRY NEWS: Ameriprise is upping the ante in its recruiting disputes with LPL Financial with a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday.

The suit, filed in U.S. district court in Minneapolis, accuses LPL of a? "widespread pattern and practice of harvesting and misappropriating Ameriprise's private, confidential client information and trade secrets …? in connection with its unfair competition within the financial industry." Ameriprise specifically accuses LPL of encouraging recruited advisors to transfer "contact information, social security numbers, account numbers, account information, routing numbers, client dates of birth, client ID numbers, account values, securities values," among other things. Many times, the data is uploaded into spreadsheets that LPL provides to advisors when they join, according to the suit.

Read: Ameriprise suit accuses LPL of 'harvesting' confidential client data

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: Family offices on average hold about $2 billion in assets — but they spend just $48,000 on cybersecurity.?

Given the wealth and sensitive information these firms manage, family offices are particularly attractive targets for cyber threats, writes Trinity J. D. of 360 Privacy . Here's a rundown of those threats, plus what a good cybersecurity protocol program looks like.?

Read: Family offices are ripe targets for cybercriminals; here's how to protect them

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