More On Legal & Compliance
from The Advisor's Professional Library- Do’s and Don’ts of Advisory Contracts In preparation for a compliance exam, securities regulators typically will ask to see copies of an RIAs advisory agreements. An RIA must be able to produce requested contracts and the contracts must comply with applicable SEC or state rules.
- Whistleblowers A whistleblower is any individual providing the SEC with original information related to a possible violation of federal securities law. The Dodd-Frank Act established a whistleblower program that enables the SEC to reward individuals who voluntarily provide such information.
Beginning in Bakersfield, California, on Tuesday, September 7, the commission started with opening remarks from Rep. Kevin McCarthy from California's 22nd District, Kern County District Four Supervisor Ray Watson and Bakersfield City Councilwoman Irma Carson.
The hearing was then separated into five sessions that included local banking, residential and community real estate, local housing market, foreclosures and loan modifications and, lastly, a forum for public comment.
"The current crisis was caused quite simply by too much debt," said Arnold Cattani, chairman of Bakersfield-based Mission Bank. "The impact on our community of the recent crisis has been profound. There are tracts of abandoned real estate projects on all four sides of Bakersfield and in each small town in the county and abandoned houses in almost every neighborhood. There are empty strip malls in every commercial area. The largest locally owned bank went under, unemployment is high and equally as important, people are frightened rather than optimistic about their future. Restaurants are empty; schools are short of funding and laying off young teachers, who worked hard to earn their degrees who are now waiting tables. These people have the feeling that the system failed them."
"The impact was and is the most dramatic I have ever witnessed as a 48-year veteran independent real estate appraiser in Bakersfield," said Gary T. Crabtree during testimony on the local housing market.
The 10 members of the bi-partisan commission were appointed by Congress on July 15, 2009. The chair, Phil Angelides, and vice chair, Bill Thomas, were selected jointly by the House and Senate Majority and Minority Leadership.
The next hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. PT, September 8, 2010 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
