The shift of some SEC examiners from broker-dealer to investment advisor duty could lead some brokerages to think “when the cat’s away, the mice can play,” said Marc Wyatt, director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE).

But that assumption would be wrong, he quickly added.

“We’re not forgetting B-D’s,” Wyatt said during an address at the National Society of Compliance Professionals in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

To counteract this risk, OCIE has put together a 40-person team specializing in monitoring Finra—which does broker-dealer exams—nationally and regionally that started work October 1, Wyatt said.

In addition, to keep up broker-dealer monitoring, OCIE is maintaining a significant presence in Chicago, New York and other key money centers, he said.

While Wells Fargo’s fraud scandal has accelerated conversations about improper incentives in the securities industry, Wyatt said it has not led to an increase of focus in this type of fraud at OCIE.

“We have always looked at improper incentives,” he said.

Wyatt said his unit’s new registrant initiative in the last couple of years has helped to prevent fraud.

He noted OCIE examiners are paying particularly close attention to whether newly registered investment advisors have a strong compliance operation.

On another issue, Wyatt said she doesn’t see the number of exams number as the sole measure of OCIE’s impact, even though the SEC loudly touted record numbers for the Enforcement Division last week.

Among OCIE’s most successful exams, said Wyatt, are those that identify emerging risks or assist in informing policy.

First « 1 2 » Next