In an April 24th ruling that will have widespread impact among financial institutions, the FINRA Board of Governors held that a broker-dealer violated FINRA rules by including a mandatory class action waiver in its customer account agreements.

According to FINRA’s release, following the Board decision, Charles Schwab & Company entered into a settlement with FINRA, agreeing to pay a fine of $500,000 and to notify all of its customers that the class action waiver requirement was withdrawn.