Everyone involved in the securities business knows that there has been a significant increase in compliance issues over recent years. I have seen the increase in compliance requests made to our firm - to redraft procedures, review surveillance reports and processes and to conduct mock audits before FINRA and the SEC conduct their exams.
I still found it interesting that a recent survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal fournd that a significant number of securities professionals reported that prospective clients asked to review their firm's compliance policies or to interview compliance personnel.
The survey also found 63% of respondents saying they have a compliance committee at their firm, up from 48% in 2014—while 88% said they have conducted a compliance review in the last year, up from 67% in the prior year’s survey. Despite heightened awareness of compliance, only 53% said their firms were spending up to 5% of their total revenue on compliance.
A summary of the survey's findings are available at the WSJ site. Thanks to Kevin Rosenberg for alerting us to the survey.
