Securities Markets:
Actions Needed to Better Protect Investors Against Unscrupulous Brokers
T-GGD-94-190: Published: Sep 14, 1994. Publicly Released: Sep 14, 1994.
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GAO discussed the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) and self-regulatory organizations' (SRO) oversight of unscrupulous brokers, focusing on: (1) the extent of unscrupulous broker activity in the securities industry; (2) regulatory and industry efforts to discipline unscrupulous brokers; and (3) the industry's capability to identify unscrupulous brokers through its Central Registration Depository (CRD) database. GAO noted that: (1) the extent of unscrupulous broker activity is unknown because abusive sales practices are difficult to detect, CRD does not contain data on informal disciplinary actions, and CRD is not designed to provide summary data by violation type; (2) as of November 30, 1993, CRD showed that about 10,000 of almost 470,000 active brokers had at least one formal disciplinary action against them and 816 brokers had 3 or more actions against them; (3) state regulators believe SEC and SRO actions against unscrupulous brokers are too lenient; (4) regulatory gaps allow unscrupulous brokers to migrate to other sectors of the financial services industry; (5) a SEC staff study made specific recommendations to improve the hiring, supervision, detection, and discipline of problem brokers; (6) CRD has limited capability as a regulatory surveillance tool because of design and data limitations; (7) firms are not required to report customer complaints and informal disciplinary actions to CRD; and (8) the National Association of Securities Dealers is redesigning CRD to make it a more effective surveillance tool.
Sep 22, 2020
Anti-Money Laundering:
Opportunities Exist to Increase Law Enforcement Use of Bank Secrecy Act Reports, and Banks' Costs to Comply with the Act VariedGAO-20-574: Published: Sep 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2020.
Sep 4, 2020
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Bank Supervision:
FDIC Could Better Address Regulatory Capture RisksGAO-20-519: Published: Sep 4, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 4, 2020.
Jul 21, 2020
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Financial Company Bankruptcies:
Congress and Regulators Have Updated Resolution Planning RequirementsGAO-20-608R: Published: Jul 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 21, 2020.
Jul 6, 2020
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Public Companies:
Disclosure of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors and Options to Enhance ThemGAO-20-530: Published: Jul 2, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 6, 2020.
Apr 30, 2020
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Priority Open Recommendations:
Department of the TreasuryGAO-20-549PR: Published: Apr 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2020.
Apr 27, 2020
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Priority Open Recommendations:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve SystemGAO-20-499PR: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2020. -
Priority Open Recommendations:
Federal Deposit Insurance CorporationGAO-20-498PR: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 27, 2020.
Apr 21, 2020
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Priority Open Recommendations:
Securities and Exchange CommissionGAO-20-502PR: Published: Apr 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 21, 2020.
Apr 20, 2020
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Terrorism Risk Insurance:
Market Is Stable but Treasury Could Strengthen Communications about Its ProcessesGAO-20-364: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 20, 2020. -
Terrorism Risk Insurance:
Program Changes Have Reduced Federal Fiscal ExposureGAO-20-348: Published: Apr 20, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 20, 2020.
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