Posted by Jason Elias on Nov 22, 2021

Confession - I am a big Robert De Niro fan. I especially love when he takes his tough guy persona into a comedy situation like in the Meet The Parents movies. Remember when he is grilling the hapless Ben Stiller (aka Gaylord Fokker) about whether he can enter his "Circle of Trust"?

NPAworldwide has always encouraged a true circle of trust. You can feel confident that when you trade with an NPAworldiwde partner you can be open and transparent. In fact there is a high correlation between the amount of information and collaboration across firms and their financial success.

However, every now and again, the circle of trust is broken. Mostly this is by unforeseen circumstances, occasionally by someone acting in bad faith. Our new member vetting process reduces the risk here but you can never eliminate all risk.

So I just want to highlight 5 easy tips to reduce your risk:

  1. Owners- read your NPAworldwide emails and Board minutes; as a member-owned cooperative, all enrolments, suspensions, expulsions, and board decisions are communicated to you, the owners.
  2. If a member reaches out to you, do some quick due diligence – check Matchmaker. Any suspended or expelled member will NOT be showing on Matchmaker. If you are still unsure, please reach out to any NPAworldwide staff member or Board member.
  3. Log your NPAworldwide splits in Matchmaker within 7 days of the candidate accepting the role. If you do a split, it is both parties’ responsibility to check the split is logged in Matchmaker.
  4. One of the unique benefits of the network is our indemnification process. NPA provides a trusted trading environment. If a partner fails to pay you we have an indemnification scheme. The rules of this scheme are in the Bylaws, Article 10. Finances, Section B. Member Indemnification and also the Operations Manual, Section E. Financial Obligations, Indemnification. Remember, if the split placement is not recorded in Matchmaker (see point 3 above) NPAworldwide is unable to assist in recouping the owed money.
  5. Pay your NPAworldwide partners AS SOON as you get paid. Look at it this way; the money is not yours, you are purely in charge of transferring it from the client to your NPAworldwide member. This includes the NPAworldwide brokerage, this needs to be paid immediately also.

Recruiters, please check with your owners if they have any questions.

If you follow the tips above, you will reduce any exposure and help retain a safe and secure trading environment within the Circle of Trust.