User:JLBEdit85/scottrade updates

Scottrade is a privately owned American Financial firm that operates both online and at retail locations. The company was founded in 1980 by Rodger O. Riney, the current CEO.

History
In 1980, Roger Riney and a business partner incorporated Scottsdale Securities in Scottsdale, Arizona. The two founders eventually split in 1985. Roger Riney continued using the name and relocated the company headquarters to his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1996, Scottsdale Securities began offering brokerage services online through their website, scottrade.com. As an online broker, the platform allowed investors to research stocks, perform trades, and manage their portfolios on their own. This new service increased the volume of trades the company managed by an average of 15% per month.

Due to the popularity of their online trading platform, Scottsdale Securities officially rebranded itself to Scottrade in 2000. By this time, more than 90% of the company’s trades were made online, and the rebranding helped them consolidate their online business and retail locations under a single name.

Scottrade announced that they would start offering online trading services to customers in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in 2003. This expansion followed after the company began offering Chinese-language services in their retail locations in 2001.

In 2004, Scottrade bought the Corporate Hill IV for 26.3 million and converted two floors into the new corporate offices, moving them out of their primary call center which was located nearby.

In 2006, Scottrade announced a partnership with the St. Louis Blues NHL team, purchasing the rights to their stadium. The arena was renamed the Scottrade Center. The name change was announced in a joint press conference, though the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

On March 31st, 2009, Scottrade announced that they purchased properties in West St. Louis County to expand their corporate offices. The purchase included two buildings, and 14 acres of land for later expansion. These buildings are currently the official headquarters for the company.

Awards And Recognition
Fortune: Best 100 Companies To Work For Fortune Magazine, releases an annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Scottrade appeared on this list six times since 2008.
 * 2008: Scottrade made their first appearance on the list at spot 58. The magazine said that one of the reasons they received a position was due to the company’s growth.
 * 2009: Due to their performance through the financial crisis, Scottrade achieved rank 60. Fortune also noted that this was the company’s 20th anniversary of paying quarterly bonuses..
 * 2010: In 2010, Scottrade opened 58 locations which helped them rank at spot 27.
 * 2011: The company ranked at spot 12 on the annual list, it’s fourth consecutive appearance.
 * 2012: Fortune ranked Scottrade as the 31st best place to work for..
 * 2013: Ranking as the 53rd best place to work.

Best Places To Work In IT In 2008, Computerworld Magazine rated Scottrade the 16th best place to work in IT. .

J.D. Power and Associates Investor Satisfaction Awards From 2001-2007, Scottrade was voted No.1 seven consecutive times in a row by users in J.D Power and Associates Online Investor Satisfaction Study.

SEC Complaints
In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company with making fraudulent misrepresentations to clients about their Nasdaq pre-open orders. The SEC alleged that Scottrade made false claims about how it manages their funds, and failed to adhere to a rigorous review of their process. The federal agency claimed that this put them in violation of the Exchange act. Scottrade agreed to settle the dispute for $950,000, but did not admit to or deny the commission’s findings.

On January 29, 2014 Scottrade admitted to violating the recordkeeping requirements for federal security laws. The commission submitted a request for ‘blue sheet’ data, or the record of the trades performed between Scottrade and their customers. The name is derived from the color of the original paper records. An error in Scottrade’s computer system prevented the company from providing accurate data on a number of transactions. As part of the settlement, Scottrade agreed to admit fault and pay a fine of $2.5 million dollars.

2015 Customer Data Hack
In October 2015, Scottrade revealed that hackers accessed a database containing more than 4.6 million personal records of their clients including names and street addresses in late 2013 and early 2014). The company became aware of the breach when they were approached by Federal authorities who were investigating similar thefts at other financial service companies.

The database accessed also included the email addresses, social security numbers, and other sensitive account data, but the company said that this information was encrypted, making it unlikely that the hackers accessed it or compromised any funds. As a precaution, Scottrade offered identity protection services to all affected customers. The company said that they believe the focus of the breach was to obtain customer contact information.

After performing their own investigation of the breach, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Fined Scottrade $2.6 Million on November 16, 2015 for failing to store financial records and emails in the formats required by the organization . Scottrade did not admit to or deny these charges, but agreed to pay the fine to settle the dispute. In a statement, the company said that “Scottrade recognizes that document retention and proper supervisory controls are critical to our company and the financial services industry.”