Can Wall Streets leaders restore trust in the markets integrity?
Yes, I think they can. But they must exercise a truly long-term view of their industry and not be seduced in the short term by the extreme competitiveness of the investment banking and securities marketplace. I’ve seen firsthand how that competitiveness can undermine the best intentions of high-ranking industry executives. In 1995, I served on a small blue-ribbon committee, established by then SEC chair Arthur Levitt, to formulate best practices with regard to stockbrokers’ activities and compensation. These were not legislative remedies, they were recommendations for voluntary standards of conduct, and all the big firms — and their leaders — agreed to follow them. But it wasn’t long before one firm violated that understanding, and to avoid being put at a competitive disadvantage, everybody else began ignoring the recommendations too. From that experience and others, I know that intra-industry trust and effective self-regulation can be fragile. That, of course, affects investor confide
