Each year, I look forward to attending the prestigious Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Annual Meeting in New York City to hear directly from the country’s premier industry speakers on the very topics most on our hearts and minds: the state of the market and our economy. Attending these sessions allows me to bypass the media hype on behalf of my clients and get to the heart of what’s happening.
Last year, I reported that senior level professionals were working behind the scenes to fix the unfolding economic crisis. I advised my clients to hold onto their confidence for the future while managing their financial affairs according to their ‘rainy-day’ plans.
This year’s event struck me quite differently. As the day progressed, I felt that too many politicians and regulators used it as a platform to congratulate themselves for all that they felt they had accomplished. I was conflicted as I heard key speakers avoid providing clear answers to what caused last year’s meltdown. As they described new regulations that did not address last year’s issues, I wondered if the supervisory lapses that provided the environment for the meltdown to occur were in danger of being perpetuated.
Mary L. Shapiro, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was our breakfast speaker and went into detail about how the SEC had changed regulations and were taking additional enforcement actions. However, most of the regulations and enforcement actions she discussed were about controlling the interaction between retail investment advisors/brokers and their clients. I walked away from that session with the realization that controlling the end-investor relationship was not the regulatory answer that last year’s meltdown needed. My questions about what was being done to implement the proper supervisions to prevent another meltdown went unanswered.
