Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has suspended the right of Topeka, Kan., financial advisor Mark A. Schneider to use the CFP designation because of charges filed against him by the Kansas Securities Commissioner, CFP Board announced Tuesday.
Schneider entered into a consent order with the Kansas Securities Commissioner without admitting or denying any of the charges. The Kansas complaint says Schneider’s firm, PLAN, charged clients an assets under management fee on accounts that held funds solely in a money market account, and that he failed to manage clients’ accounts in accordance with the clients’ investment objectives and utilized investment strategies that could not offer returns sufficient to cover the fees.
The firm also failed to maintain a positive net worth and failed to notify the commissioner’s office of its negative net worth in a timely fashion, and Schneider failed to properly disclose two customer complaints and civil judgments filed against him. The Kansas office revoked the firm’s registration as an investment advisor.