New Regs to Cost Fund Firms Millions

New SEC regulations resulting from the fund scandal and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will cost mutual fund companies millions of dollars as a result of the need to hire thousands of additional lawyers, chief compliance officers, accountants, tech personnel and independent directors, the Boston Herald reports.

Chief compliance officers are commanding salaries as high as $500,000, while independent directors easily fetch $150,000 or more. At some smaller companies, costs are exceeding revenues.

"It’s been a very active area for us," said J. Nicholas Hurd, an executive recruiter for Russell Reynolds Associates. Fund companies’ biggest demands so far have been finding independent directors, he said.

Willis Riccio, a regulatory and white-collar crime attorney, said he is also picking up business writing codes of ethics for firms. Riccio characterized the current regulations as a "feeding frenzy."

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