Step aside bond salesmen, in today’s world compliance officers are the masters of the universe. They may complain of sleepless nights and bags under their eyes as they try to adhere to notice after notice from the National Association of Securities Dealers or New York Stock Exchange – perhaps not saying exactly the same thing. Or they may live in fear of a misstep that could land them with a multi-million dollar fine. Or they may try to be accommodating to scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that is so close that their firms are effectively under continuous audit.
But one thing is certain, the legal and compliance departments of Wall Street’s bulge bracket firms are no longer backwaters. As investment banks fired, their legal departments hired. Salaries are up, spending is up and investment bankers are consulting their traditionally lesser brethren like never before.
There has always been a strong gamekeeper-turned-poacher element in compliance appointments. Old hands such as Dave DeMuro, Lehman Brothers’ head of global compliance, and Brent Taylor, JP Morgan’s compliance chief – who together have been running the compliance and legal division of the Securities Industry Association for the past two years – are both SEC veterans. But a recent development has been the appearance of former Eliot Spitzer cohorts among the new recruits. Beth Golden, Bear Stearns’ global head of compliance since June, and Eric Dinallo, now head of regulatory matters for Morgan Stanley, formerly worked for the New York attorney general who gave Wall Street a run for its money.
The Banker interviewed some of these compliance officers about their jobs and life under the new regulatory regime.
DAVE DEMURO, Managing Director of Global Comliance & Regulation, Lehman Brothers
ERIC DINALLO, Head of Regulatory Group, Morgan Stanley
BETH GOLDEN, Global Head of Compliance, Bear Stearns
