Spitzer Stresses Accountability to Lawyers

The mutual fund industry must hold itself accountable for transgressions, and so must the similarly maligned investment banking and securities research industries, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer told a group of upstate New York lawyers last week, The Rochester Daily Record reports.

"Accountability is the common thread that binds different segments of our society together," Spitzer said. "A lapse in accountability has led to an erosion of the line to cross."

Using the investment bankers as an example, Spitzer said the lack of accountability helped many in the financial services industry lose its "moral fiber." He said the investment bankers, while admitting to wrongdoing, pointed out that it was an industry-wide problem instead of taking the blame themselves.

The May 25 speech to the Monroe County Bar Association was classic Spitzer, as he challenged regulators to ask "tougher questions" and realize that not everyone in the fund industry is so unwilling to change.

 

 

 

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