People are more fair and more generous when they are in clean-smelling environments, according to a soon-to-be published study: The Smell of Virtue. The experiment had participants engage in several tasks, the only difference being that some worked in unscented rooms, while others worked in rooms freshly spritzed with citrus-scented Windex. The first experiment was … Read more »
Category: Compliance Programs
Compliance and Solitaire
Compare playing solitaire on your computer against using a deck of cards to play solitaire. The computer won’t let you cheat. You can’t put the card on a stack if it doesn’t belong on that stack. The rules are embedded in game’s software. Ultimately, that should be one of the goals for compliance. You want … Read more »
FINRA Is Thinking About Changing Its Communications Rules
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) posted a regulatory notice on proposed new rules governing member communications with the public: Regulatory Notice 09-55. The new rules would replace current NASD Rules 2210 and 2211, the Interpretive Materials that follow NASD Rule 2210, and portions of Incorporated NYSE Rule 472. The proposal would replace the existing six … Read more »
The CFO’s and CCO’s Role in Fundraising
Yesterday, I attended the PERE Real Estate CFOs Forum. These are my notes from this session: Moderator: Steve Felix, Head of Client Relations-Real Estate, Aviva Investors Ira Bergstein, Principal & CFO, Palisades Financial, LLC Jack Foster, Head of Real Estate, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors Asha Richards, Vice President & General Counsel for the Private … Read more »
Managing Private Real Estate Funds – The Changing Role of the CFO and Chief Compliance Officer
Yesterday, I attended the PERE Real Estate CFOs Forum. These are my notes from this session. Moderator: Gary Koster, Americas Leader- Real Estate Fund Services, Ernst & Young LLP Peter C. Cluff, Principal, Europa Capital LLP Stuart Koenig, Global CFO & Chief Administrative Officer, AREA Property Partners Dominic Petrucci, Chief Financial Officer, Buchanan Street Partners … Read more »
Debt: The Missing Link
Yesterday, I attended the PERE Real Estate CFOs Forum. These are my notes from this keynote session by Schecky Schechner, Managing Director, US Head of Real Estate Investment Banking, Barclays Capital. There is a wave (a wall?) of real estate debt maturities coming due over the next three years. He started talking about the private … Read more »
Shifting Regulatory Landscape in the US and Abroad
This afternoon, I am speaking at the PERE Real Estate CFOs Forum in New York on the Shifting Regulatory Landscape in the US and Abroad. Moderator: Gilbert D. Porter, Partner, Haynes & Boone LLP Panel Members: Andrea Carpenter, Director, INREV (European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles) Doug Cornelius, Chief Compliance Officer, Beacon … Read more »
Governing Corporate Compliance and New Governance
Miriam Baer of the Brooklyn Law School published an interesting article on “New Governance”: Governing Corporate Compliance. The professor rejects the notion that adversarial relationships produce good regulation. She looks towards the “theory of regulation characterized by a collaborative tone between regulator and regulated entity, a problem-solving orientation, continuous assessment and revision of both expected … Read more »
Pfizer and Compliance
Pfizer got itself in trouble for the way it was marketing some of its drugs. Enough trouble that they need to cough up a $2.3 billion fine to the Department of Justice. (Yes, that is billion.) Under its settlement with the DOJ, Pfizer will pay a $1.3 billion criminal fine related to the company’s illegal … Read more »
The SEC’s Madoff Report
The SEC decided to take a look at how it failed to uncover the Madoff fraud. The SEC’s Inspector General has been running an investigation and compiling information. The SEC Inspector General, H. David Kotz, released a public version of their report on August 31: Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s … Read more »