Jorgenson is a senior bond analyst with Morgan Co., a large investment banking firm. Over the past quarter, Morgan’s corporate bond department has been betting on the credit spreads in the market narrowing and in anticipation, has invested a large amount of capital in the bonds of two firms, High Tech and Amerizone.com. Unfortunately, the credit spreads have not displayed much activity and as the quarter end is approaching, the department wants to unload the bonds. For this, it puts pressure on Jorgenson to push the bonds on some of his larger clients. Jorgenson believes that both the bonds are good investments since High tech and Amerizone have been doing very well and their prospects look rosy. So he goes ahead and convinces his clients to purchase as much as a third of Morgan’s bond holdings in these companies. Morgan has

Jorgenson is a senior bond analyst with Morgan Co., a large investment banking firm. Over the past quarter, Morgan’s corporate bond department has been betting on the credit spreads in the market narrowing and in anticipation, has invested a large amount of capital in the bonds of two firms, High Tech and Amerizone.com. Unfortunately, the credit spreads have not displayed much activity and as the quarter end is approaching, the department wants to unload the bonds. For this, it puts pressure on Jorgenson to push the bonds on some of his larger clients. Jorgenson believes that both the bonds are good investments since High tech and Amerizone have been doing very well and their prospects look rosy. So he goes ahead and convinces his clients to purchase as much as a third of Morgan’s bond holdings in these companies. Morgan has

A. not violated the AIMR code of ethics.

B. violated Standard IV (A.1) – Reasonable Basis and Representations.

C. violated Standard IV (B.7) – Disclosure of conflicts to Clients and Prospects.

D. violated Standard IV (A.3) – Independence and Objectivity.

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

There is no evidence that Jorgenson has bowed to any external pressure in recommending the bonds to his clients. If his analysis indicates, in his judgment, that a security is a good investment and suits the needs of a client, then he should recommend it, regardless of whether there is any external pressure for or against that course of action.