Columbus-based Synovus Securities fined $315K over widespread signature forgeries, inaccurate records
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Synovus Securities, Inc. $315,000 and issued a formal censure after uncovering widespread electronic signature forgeries and falsified records across a nearly four-year period.
According to FINRA, Synovus failed to maintain adequate supervisory systems to detect or prevent employees from electronically signing documents on behalf of others. Between January 2022 and September 2025, these failures resulted in over 100 forged customer signatures and more than 500 falsified internal records.
The misconduct primarily occurred at one branch office, where employees reused their own contact information to receive e-signature authentication codes, then signed documents on behalf of customers and colleagues. Despite red flags, Synovus’s systems failed to detect the abuse, and the firm had no written policy on e-signatures until April 2024.
The issues went undetected for over a year and were only discovered in September 2023 during routine operations checks. Synovus has since re-executed affected documents, confirmed customer authorization, and received no complaints.
In response, the firm implemented weekly e-signature audits, updated its written supervisory procedures, and added new controls to prevent unauthorized signing.
Though Synovus agreed to the penalties without admitting or denying the findings, FINRA cited the seriousness of the violations and the number of inaccurate records as justification for the fine and formal censure.
The disciplinary action was finalized through a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC), bringing the matter to a close unless new violations surface.
The full action can be viewed on FINRA’s BrokerCheck: www.finra.org/brokercheck.
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