By Robert Schmidt and Ben Bain

罗伯特·施密特(Robert Schmidt)和本·贝恩(Ben Bain)

Robinhood Markets has catapulted ahead of its online brokerage rivals with a smartphone app that has attracted an army of young investors. Yet with the company’s rise has come a litany of problems: trading outages, angry customers and regulatory probes.

罗宾汉市场(Robinhood Markets)凭借其智能手机应用程序吸引了众多年轻投资者，使其在线经纪业务竞争对手遥遥领先。 然而，随着公司的崛起，出现了一系列问题：交易中断，愤怒的客户和监管调查。

Over the first half of the year, U.S. consumer protection agencies received more than 400 complaints about Robinhood — roughly four times more than competitors like Charles Schwab Corp. and Fidelity Investments’ brokerage unit. The grievances, obtained via a public records request to the Federal Trade Commission, depict novice investors in over their heads, struggling to understand why they’ve lost money on stock options or had shares liquidated to pay off margin loans.

在今年上半年，美国消费者保护机构收到了400多个关于Robinhood的投诉，大约是Charles Schwab Corp.和Fidelity Investments的经纪部门等竞争对手的四倍。 通过向联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)的公开记录请求获得的不满反映了新手投资者的头脑，他们难以理解为什么他们在股票期权上亏损或清算以偿还保证金贷款的股票。

Among the setbacks highlighted in the documents is a pivotal breakdown in early March when Robinhood stopped working for more than a day, just as markets were swinging wildly on coronavirus fears. Some complainants reported losing thousands of dollars because they couldn’t sell holdings. Others bemoaned the missed opportunity to profit. Most disturbing to the investors was that as the chaos reigned, there was nobody at Robinhood to call for assistance. Many couldn’t even find a listed phone number.

文件中突出显示的挫折包括3月初的一次关键崩溃，当时罗宾汉(Robinhood)停止工作了一天多，而市场正因冠状病毒的担忧而剧烈波动。 一些投诉人称损失了数千美元，因为他们无法出售所持股份。 其他人则为失去的获利机会感到mo惜。 最令投资者不安的是，在混乱局面期间，罗宾汉没有人要求援助。 许多人甚至找不到列出的电话号码。

“It just says to submit an email,” one investor in Atlanta fumed after spending a week trying to get help from the firm’s customer service department. “This company’s negligence cost me $6,000.” Another, from North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, who estimated losing $20,000, couldn’t reach a live person to close an account. “I can’t make trades, can’t take my own money and can’t leave their service.”

“这只是说要发送一封电子邮件，”亚特兰大的一位投资者在花了一周的时间来寻求公司客户服务部门的帮助后大怒。 “这家公司的疏忽使我损失了6000美元。” 另一位来自马萨诸塞州北达特茅斯的人估计损失了20,000美元，但他无法联系到一个活着的人来关闭账户。 “我不能交易，不能拿自己的钱，也不能离开他们的服务。”

A company spokesman said Robinhood takes seriously its responsibilities to clients, especially when so many investors are making their initial forays into trading. Though the firm doesn’t disclose exact figures, it has doubled its customer service representatives this year, and is hiring hundreds more, he said. After the March trading glitch, the company’s engineering team has strengthened its platform and improved reliability, the spokesman said, adding that affected customers were given compensation on a case-by-case basis.

公司发言人说，罗宾汉德(Robinhood)认真对待对客户的责任，特别是当有那么多投资者开始涉足交易时。 他说，尽管该公司没有透露确切数字，但它今年的客户服务代表增加了一倍，并且正在招聘数百名。 发言人说，在三月份的交易故障之后，该公司的工程团队加强了平台并提高了可靠性，并补充说，受影响的客户将根据具体情况获得赔偿。

快速增长 (Rapid Growth)

Offering commission-free trades through technology that can seem more like a video game than a financial tool, Robinhood signed on more than 3 million clients in the first four months of 2020 and has become a symbol of U.S. investors’ resilience during the pandemic. The rapid growth, fueled by quarantined millennials, is also drawing attention in Washington where market watchdogs and politicians are suddenly getting an earful about the broker.

罗宾汉通过类似于电子游戏而不是金融工具的技术提供无佣金交易，在2020年前四个月中，罗宾汉与300万客户签约，并已成为美国投资者在大流行中恢复能力的象征。 在隔离的千禧一代的推动下，这种快速增长也引起了华盛顿的注意，那里的市场监督者和政治人物突然对经纪人有所耳闻。

Some regulators have privately vented that they feel like they have become Robinhood’s de facto customer-service line because so many of the firm’s clients contact them after failing to reach anyone at the company, said people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

知情人士说，一些监管者私下里说他们觉得自己已经成为罗宾汉的事实上的客户服务线，因为许多公司的客户在没有联系到公司的任何人之后就与他们联系。

Robinhood’s two main overseers, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, are now investigating the company’s handling of the March outage, according to people familiar with the probe who asked not to be identified because it isn’t public. One focus is the lack of customer response.

知情人士说，罗宾汉的两个主要监督者，证券交易委员会和金融业监管局，目前正在调查该公司对三月停电的处理，因为该消息不公开，所以不愿透露姓名。 焦点之一是缺乏客户响应。

The SEC and Finra declined to comment on any investigations, as did the Robinhood spokesman.

SEC和Finra以及罗宾汉发言人均拒绝对任何调查发表评论。

If the government scrutiny — which also includes inquiries from lawmakers — escalates, the risks to Robinhood are substantial. The company was recently valued at $11.2 billion after a round of venture capital funding. More trouble could endanger a potential initial public offering, something Wall Street has long expected, or a sale to a big bank or tech firm.

如果政府的审查(包括立法者的询问)逐步升级，罗宾汉的风险将是巨大的。 经过一轮风险投资后，该公司最近的估值为112亿美元。 更多的麻烦可能会危及华尔街长期以来预期的潜在首次公开发行(IPO)，或出售给大型银行或科技公司。

雇用说客 (Hiring Lobbyists)

Moving quickly to tamp down the furor, Robinhood recently hired Dan Gallagher, a former Republican SEC commissioner steeped in the culture of federal regulation, as its top lawyer. The company is also opening an office in the nation’s capital and hiring lobbyists to aggressively make its case before Congress and federal agencies.

罗宾汉Swift采取行动以减轻骚动，最近聘请了一位前共和党SEC专员丹·加拉格尔(Dan Gallagher)担任联邦法律的高级律师。 该公司还在美国首都开设办事处，并雇用说客积极向国会和联邦机构提起诉讼。

“Robinhood is empowering a whole new class of investors, and I think it is critical for us to have a voice in Washington to advocate for our customers and fairer markets,” Gallagher said in an interview.

加拉格尔在接受采访时说：“罗宾汉赋予了全新的投资者力量，我认为对我们来说，在华盛顿发出声音来倡导我们的客户和更公平的市场至关重要。”

Founded seven years ago, Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood bills itself as “investing for everyone.” It has sought to disrupt the often staid brokerage industry by making investing cheap, easy and, yes, fun. Trades can be placed with a quick swipe and may be heralded with a burst of virtual confetti. More than 13 million people have opened Robinhood accounts, which don’t have minimum balance requirements. The median age of the firm’s customers is 31, and nearly half say they’re first-time investors.

成立于七年前，总部位于加利福尼亚州门洛帕克的Robinhood宣称自己是“为所有人投资”。 它试图通过廉价，轻松，是且有趣的投资来破坏通常停滞不前的经纪业。 可以通过快速滑动来放置交易，并且可以通过虚拟五彩纸屑来预示交易。 超过1300万人开设了Robinhood帐户，没有最低余额要求。 该公司客户的年龄中位数为31岁，近一半的人表示他们是首次投资人。

Even though its clients tend to be unsophisticated traders, the firm has expanded into options and cryptocurrencies, products that are riskier than stocks. It also offers a premium package that costs $5 a month and gives investors access to research as well as the ability to buy securities with borrowed money, which can amplify gains or losses.

尽管其客户往往是老练的交易员，但该公司已扩展到期权和加密货币，这些产品的风险比股票高。 它还提供了一个高级套餐，每月费用为5美元，使投资者能够进行研究，并且能够用借入的资金购买证券，这可以放大损益。

Robinhood facilitates trades for investors but doesn’t offer stock recommendations, allowing it to escape some of the onerous regulation faced by competitors with a lot of human employees. The company makes the bulk of its money by selling customer orders to Wall Street trading firms, a common industry practice that existed long before Robinhood.

Robinhood促进了投资者的交易，但不提供股票推荐，从而使它摆脱了竞争者面临的繁琐法规的束缚。 该公司通过将客户订单卖给华尔街贸易公司来赚钱，这是罗宾汉早就存在的行业惯例。

交易者自杀 (Trader’s Suicide)

This summer, lawmakers’ anxieties about the company were heightened after the suicide of a 20-year-old college student who mistakenly thought he had lost more than $700,000 while using the firm’s app to bet on options. The tragedy stirred concerns that Robinhood was allowing customers to take risks they didn’t comprehend — and incur losses they couldn’t afford.

今年夏天，在一名20岁的大学生自杀后，立法者对公司的担忧加剧了，他错误地认为自己在使用公司的应用程序下注期权时损失了超过70万美元。 悲剧激起了人们的担忧，即Robinhood允许客户承担他们无法理解的风险，并承受无法承受的损失。

Two senators and four House members sent a sharply worded July 13 letter demanding answers about the suicide, the trading snafus and the firm’s efforts to provide training and safeguards for clients.

两位参议员和四位众议院议员在7月13日发出了措辞敏锐的信，要求就自杀，交易热潮以及该公司为客户提供培训和保障的努力作出答复。

“Robinhood has been very successful in marketing itself as an easy to use and low-cost brokerage service among first-time retail investors,” the Democratic lawmakers, led by California Representative Brad Sherman, wrote. “By seeking to cultivate a customer base of relatively inexperienced investors, you have also taken on an especially great responsibility to make sure your customers are protected.”

加利福尼亚州众议员布拉德·谢尔曼(Brad Sherman)领导的民主党立法者写道：“罗宾汉(Robinhood)作为一种易于使用且低成本的经纪服务，在营销本身上非常成功，”。 “通过寻求建立相对缺乏经验的投资者的客户基础，您还承担了特别重大的责任，以确保保护您的客户。”

Robinhood believes it has a good story to tell on Capitol Hill, about how it has “democratized” investing and compelled the online brokerage industry to drive down commissions to zero — a phenomenon some call “the Robinhood effect.” It’s a talking point that the firm’s two founders, Baiju Bhatt and Vladimir Tenev, regularly use, but few in Washington have heard. The company reinforced that message in an 11-page letter responding to the lawmakers.

Robinhood相信在国会山上有个很好的故事，它讲述了它如何“民主化”投资并迫使在线经纪业将佣金降至零，这种现象被称为“ Robinhood效应”。 该公司的两位创始人Baiju Bhatt和Vladimir Tenev经常使用这种说法，但华盛顿很少有人听到。 该公司在一封长达11页的致议员的信中强化了这一信息。

“Our goal is to empower more Americans of all backgrounds to take greater ownership of their financial future, which we believe can help shrink the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots,’ and lead to a healthier, more robust economy,” wrote David Dusseault, president and chief operating officer of the subsidiary Robinhood Financial. “Our ethos is a commitment to building products that make the financial markets more accessible and approachable, while demystifying otherwise intimidating financial concepts.”

“我们的目标是使更多背景的美国人能够更好地掌控自己的金融未来，我们认为这有助于缩小'有'和'有'之间的差距，并带来更健康，更强劲的经济”，子公司Robinhood Financial的总裁兼首席运营官David Dusseault写道。 “我们的精神是致力于开发产品，使金融市场更容易获得和更容易接近，同时揭开了否则令人生畏的金融概念的神秘面纱。”

The letter added that after the death of student Alex Kearns, the broker was re-tooling its interface for options trading, putting more investor education materials on its app and considering new requirements for investors who want to make more complex bets. Robinhood also made a $250,000 donation for suicide-prevention efforts.

该信还补充说，在学生亚历克斯·基恩斯(Alex Kearns)去世之后，该经纪人正在重新调整其用于期权交易的界面，在其应用程序上投放了更多的投资者教育资料，并考虑了希望进行更复杂下注的投资者的新要求。 罗宾汉还为预防自杀工作捐款25万美元。

分辨探头 (Resolving Probe)

On the regulatory front, Robinhood’s most pressing issue is the joint SEC-Finra investigation. But the broker is also looking to establish good relations with other agencies, including the Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, FTC and overseers in each state.

在监管方面，Robinhood最紧迫的问题是SEC-Finra联合调查。 但该经纪人还希望与其他机构建立良好的关系，包括美国财政部，消费者金融保护局，联邦贸易委员会和每个州的监督者。

To guide the company through that thicket, Robinhood brought on Gallagher, 48, as chief legal officer in May. An attorney who specializes in the often arcane world of broker regulation, Gallagher is friendly with lawmakers of both parties and more comfortable in the Washington uniform of a suit and tie than the tech world’s hoodie and Allbirds sneakers. He’s also brought deep relationships with government officials to the firm. Among his close confidants is SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.

为了指导公司解决这一难题，Robinhood于5月任命现年48岁的加拉格尔为首席法律官。 Gallagher是一名专门研究经纪人监管这个通常神秘世界的律师，他对双方的立法者都很友好，比起科技界的连帽衫和Allbirds运动鞋，他更适合穿西装打领带的华盛顿制服。 他还与政府官员建立了深厚的关系。 SEC主席杰伊·克莱顿(Jay Clayton)是他的密友。

Last month, Gallagher hired another SEC insider, ex-Clayton Chief of Staff Lucas Moskowitz, to run Robinhood’s regulatory, litigation and lobbying efforts. Moskowitz has worked for Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, and he’s been an enforcement lawyer at the SEC. Robinhood also named new chief compliance officers at two subsidiaries in August, one who came from Wells Fargo & Co.’s brokerage and another from Fidelity.

上个月，加拉格尔(Gallagher)雇用了另一名SEC内部人员，即前克莱顿幕僚长Lucas Moskowitz，负责罗宾汉的监管，诉讼和游说工作。 Moskowitz在众议院金融服务委员会和参议院银行委员会为共和党人工作，他曾是SEC的执行律师。 Robinhood还在8月任命了两家子公司的新首席合规官，其中一位来自富国银行的经纪业务，另一位来自富达公司。

Another concern for Robinhood is that the firm’s surging popularity — particularly among traders who will make up the next generation of investors — has other online brokers gunning for it. The rivals, not surprisingly, have been eager to point out Robinhood’s setbacks in discussions with politicians and regulators, as well as in public comments.

罗宾汉的另一个担忧是，该公司的声望日渐高涨，尤其是在将组成下一代投资者的交易员中，还有其他在线经纪人对此表示欢迎。 毫不奇怪，竞争对手们一直渴望在与政治家和监管机构的讨论以及公众评论中指出罗宾汉的挫折。

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, for instance, praised his bank’s acquisition of E*Trade Financial Corp. on a July 16 earnings call, drawing a distinction with Robinhood’s troubles, and taking a subtle dig at the firm though not mentioning it by name. E*Trade, Gorman said, has added hundreds of thousands of new accounts without suffering major breakdowns during the pandemic. “But with that has come real money, not just kids playing,” he said.

例如，摩根士丹利首席执行官詹姆斯·戈尔曼(James Gorman)在7月16日的财报电话会议上称赞他的银行对E * Trade Financial Corp.的收购，与罗宾汉的麻烦区分开来，并对该公司进行了细微的挖掘，尽管未提及其名称。 。 戈尔曼说，E * Trade已经增加了数十万个新帐户，而在大流行期间并未遭受重大损失。 他说：“但这带来了真正的金钱，而不仅仅是孩子们玩耍。”

众多投诉 (Numerous Complaints)

The FTC complaints obtained by Bloomberg News, which cover the March outage, do show a wide disparity between Robinhood and its peers. From January through mid-July, the agency had received 473 reports about Robinhood, compared with 126 for Schwab, 111 for E*Trade, 69 for Fidelity and seven for Interactive Brokers Group Inc.

彭博新闻社(Bloomberg News)获得的联邦贸易委员会(FTC)投诉涵盖了3月的停电事件，确实表明Robinhood与同行之间存在着巨大的差距。 从1月到7月中旬，该机构收到了473份有关Robinhood的报告，而Schwab的报告是126份，E * Trade的是111份，Fidelity的69份，Interactive Brokers Group Inc.的7份。

Looking to make sure that its competitors don’t succeed in framing the narrative about Robinhood in Washington, the company this month retained four outside government relations firms. Some of the lobbyists have longstanding connections to the SEC and Gallagher, including Justin Daly, a former Senate Banking and SEC aide, and Walton Liles and Ben Brown of Blue Ridge Law & Policy. Two others — The Williams Group and Thorn Run Partners — have Democratic ties.

为了确保其竞争对手不会成功地描述华盛顿罗宾汉的故事，该公司本月保留了四家外部政府关系公司。 一些游说者与SEC和Gallagher有长期联系，包括前参议院银行和SEC助手Justin Daly，以及Blue Ridge Law＆Policy的Walton Liles和Ben Brown。 威廉姆斯集团(Williams Group)和棘刺伙伴(Thorn Run Partners)这两个另外两个国家之间存在民主关系。

One point the lobbying effort wants to get across is that while Robinhood’s investors may be younger, not all are day traders. Many use a buy-and-hold strategy, and those with less money can purchase fractional shares that allow them to diversify their portfolios with more expensive blue-chip stocks. The company also provides numerous educational materials on its app.

游说活动希望传达的一个观点是，尽管罗宾汉的投资者可能更年轻，但并非所有人都是日间交易员。 许多人使用买入并持有的策略，而那些钱少的人可以购买零碎股票，从而使他们可以利用更昂贵的蓝筹股来分散投资组合。 该公司还在其应用程序上提供了许多教育资料。

Robinhood adds that it’s addressing its customer-service problems. Dusseault, Robinhood Financial’s president, said in his letter to lawmakers that the company was on a hiring binge and would end 2020 with almost triple the amount of representatives that it employed in January, including some who are registered brokers. Still, he didn’t promise that there would be a phone number investors could easily find and call when they need help.

Robinhood补充说，它正在解决其客户服务问题。 罗宾汉金融公司总裁杜塞尔特在致国会议员的信中说，该公司正处于招聘热潮，到2020年年底，该公司的代表人数将比1月份增加近三倍，其中包括一些注册经纪人。 不过，他没有保证会有电话号码，投资者可以在需要帮助时轻松找到并拨打电话。

“We’ve found that, currently, we’re best able to reach customers quickly over email,” Dusseault wrote.

“我们发现，目前，我们最能够通过电子邮件快速联系到客户，” Dusseault写道。