The Regulatory Examination Process

Handling regulatory examinations is an important part of the duties and responsibilities of many compliance professionals. In today’s regulatory climate, where the SEC and the SROs are placing increased scrutiny on the activities of securities firms, it is critical for compliance officers to understand the regulatory examination process and the key issues relating to such inspections.

This White Paper discusses several key topics in an effort to provide information concerning regulatory examinations and to furnish practical guidance on the handling of such inspections. Specifically, the White Paper outlines the following topics:

1. background information regarding the regulatory examination process,
2. practical guidance for handling regulatory examinations,
3. the role of outside counsel,
4. special issues during regulatory examinations,
5. NASD sweep examinations,
6. SEC examination program developments,
7. current NYSE and NASD examination priorities, and
8. recent deficiencies found by state regulators in connection with broker-dealer examinations.