August 25, 2010
With 25 years of experience in the Investment Industry, I wish to voice my disagreement with the direction of the regulatory discussions. I am a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF), a Series 7 SEC broker and a Chartered Financial Consultant. I take my role very seriously and support tough standards for my profession. However, the notion that we need more regulations to stop unethical behavior is sadly misplaced.
Please do your homework and look at what investment professionals already go through to comply with regulations. We already allocate between 10% and 15% of our overhead to compliance related activities just to keep up with the ever changing regulatory landscape. We are highly regulated and more laws won't stop a few bad apples from tarnishing the reputation of an honorable profession.
Rather, move to enforce the laws you already have. Make the Broker Dealers do their job like the best BD's do. Effective enforcement of existing laws is the key. More lehgislation will make people feel good but will do nothing to solve the problm you are seeking to address.
Thank you. Jim