But her lack of direct Wall Street experience was part of the reason why she was selected to head and build up Bear Stearns’ compliance department.
“One of the current criticisms of this industry is that whenever it is accused of wrongdoing, the defence is ‘we’ve been doing it like that for years’ or ‘our competitors all do it this way’,” she says. “A competitor’s behaviour may be identical but it does not make the conduct necessarily appropriate. It’s good to have someone who is not so deeply embedded in the business practices looking at those practices with fresh eyes.”
