NEW ORLEANS Regulators at the
As investor confidence has broken down,
- Walsh said that in order to assess the tone at the top, examiners will focus on four areas: reports, attention to compliance, management statements and leading by example. The staff will look at what kinds of reports are personally reviewed by the executive suite of a firm. Attention has to do with time and resources dedicated to the compliance department. Executives statements and their ability to lead by example will also be taken into consideration. Those that resist the initiative are much more likely to have examiners scrutinizing their operations and books on a more frequent basis, Walsh said.
Additionally, one of the areas that will draw increased scrutiny in the examinations is electronic correspondence, specifically e-mail, Walsh said. E-mails showed their importance during the record-setting Wall Street analyst action, and are again playing an important role, Walsh said, an obvious reference to the findings of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzers investigation into mutual fund trading practices.
