When an investment adviser is designing its policies and procedures you need to identify the risks for their firm so they address those risks. A big risk is missing an applicable requirement under the regulatory scheme. So you sit down with the regulations and tie them to your specific policies and procedures. An easy one … Read more »
Category: Compliance Programs
Coffee and Compliance
I just sat down with a fresh cup of coffee from Green Mountain Coffee Keurig brewer. The smell of coffee mixed with stench of compliance failures coming from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. You know there is trouble when Sam Antar, the convicted felon and criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, has you in his sights. … Read more »
More Information on the Custody Rule
With the removal of the 15 client rule exemption from registration with the SEC, many private funds are going to have to comply the custody rule Rule 206(4)-2. Private equity firms will have the most problems trying to meets the demands of the rule. The SEC is trying to help. They updated the Staff Responses … Read more »
The Foreclosure Mess and Compliance
Why is the foreclosure machinery of our nation’s largest banks suddenly grinding to a halt? The “Produce the Note” movement, encouraging consumers to challenge the lender in foreclosure and make them produce the note. It’s not about proving you are current on your mortgage. It’s about attacking a structural flaw to stay rent and mortgage … Read more »
Katy Perry and Compliance
Katy Perry just wanted to play dress-up. Elmo ran away. Just like Elmo, Sesame Street decided they wanted to get away from Ms. Perry. Her outfit showed too much cleavage. It’s not the first time Sesame Street has pulled a video. They pulled a video with Chris Brown when he was accused of domestic violence. … Read more »
SEC Proposal on Short-Term Borrowing Disclosure by Public Companies
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose measures that would require public companies to disclose additional information to investors about their short-term borrowing arrangements. The proposals would require “a registrant to provide, in a separately captioned subsection of Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, a comprehensive explanation of its … Read more »
The Trouble with Anonymous Surveys
So how are your surveys working? Do you get meaningful results? Are the results skewed by those who responded (versus those who didn’t)? Read more »
Criminal Provisions under Dodd-Frank
When thinking designing compliance programs, I pay extra attention to the issues that can result in jail time. It’s one thing to pay a fine, it’s a much bigger problem when you take someone’s freedom away. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act has added several new federal criminal offenses. The National Association … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces: Mark Hurd Special
Last Friday, the big news in compliance was the sudden resignation of Mark Hurd as the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Hewlett-Packard. I decided to put together a compilation of other stories I found interesting. HP and me: Coincidence or not? by Michelle Leder in Footnoted Of course, footnoted had done its own … Read more »
Be the Mayor, not the Sheriff
Are you getting in the way or helping to move your organization forward? Inevitably, compliance professional will need to step in and stop an activity or start a discipline process for someone who broke the rules. That does not have to be the primary focus of the your job, or the compliance profession. Frank Sheeder, … Read more »