Regulators Announce Whistleblower Initiatives

Both FINRA and the SEC have announced initiatives to better handle whistleblower complaints and tips. FINRA announced the establishment of an “Office of the Whistleblower” which basically involves a hotline and a website so that whistleblowers and tipsters have a central communications portal. The SEC announced a comprehensive review of its process to receive and analyze whistleblower tips.

OUR TAKE: We think this is more public relations than regulatory substance. While the Madoff case represents a failure to act on a whistleblower’s tip, we don’t know whether better whistleblower intake will necessarily lead to better enforcement.

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-44.htm
http://www.finra.org/Newsroom/NewsReleases/2009/P118095