According to FINRA, The Oak Ridge Financial Services Group, Inc. (CRD #42941), based in Golden Valley, Minnesota, was censured, fined $270,000, and ordered to pay $68,857.69 plus interest in restitution to customers. The firm consented to these sanctions without admitting or denying the findings. FINRA found that the firm charged unfair prices in corporate bond transactions. The firm relied solely on inter-dealer quotes to determine the prevailing market price and failed to consider when a contemporaneous inter-dealer transaction or institutional customer transaction price was available. By failing to correctly assess the prevailing market price, the firm caused customers to pay more than they should have or receive less than they should have, resulting in customer harm of $50,294.94. In addition, for other corporate bond transactions where the firm did use the correct prevailing market price, it imposed mark-ups or mark-downs that were unfair to customers. These charges were not fair and reasonable compared to contemporaneous mark-ups and mark-downs of similar bonds when considering all relevant factors, including the type of security, market availability, the price of the security, and the size of the transaction. This resulted in additional customer harm of $18,562.75. FINRA also found that the firm's supervisory system was not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with fair pricing rules. The firm's written supervisory procedures did not include any process for determining the prevailing market price and unreasonably gave representatives unilateral discretion to set mark-ups or mark-downs at or below five percent, even though that level was not always fair. Supervisory review thresholds were set at unreasonably high levels, meaning most corporate bond trades were automatically bulk-approved without supervisor review. Furthermore, supervisory reviews only considered the mark-up portion attributable to the representative, not other portions such as those attributable to the firm's trading desk. The firm has since implemented revised procedures. For investors who trade corporate bonds, this case highlights the importance of understanding how pricing works in the bond market. Unlike stocks, bonds often trade with mark-ups or mark-downs rather than commissions. Investors should ask about the prices being charged and compare them to prevailing market rates.