Business PracticesQuestion 72 of 100
A customer receives a margin call and cannot meet it. The agent offers to lend the customer the money personally so the position need not be sold. This is:
a.Permitted because it protects the customer from a forced sale
b.Permitted with oral disclosure to the branch manager
c.Prohibited, because lending money to a customer creates a conflict of interest and is an unethical practice outside narrow exceptions
d.Permitted if the customer signs a promissory note
Explanation
Lending money or securities to a customer, like borrowing from one, is prohibited except in narrow circumstances such as a lending relationship through the firm or an immediate family member, and only where the firm's written procedures permit it. Good intentions do not create an exception. Documentation such as a promissory note or an oral notification to a manager does not make the loan permissible.
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