November 05, 2012
Last month, the St. John’s Law Review, the
Center for International and Comparative Law, and the
Corporate and Securities Law Society hosted the Symposium,
“Revolution in the Regulation of Financial Advice: The U.S., the
U.K. and Australia” at St. John’s University’s Manhattan Campus.
The event featured three panels exploring different facets of the
likely changes in investment adviser regulation after Dodd-Frank in
the United States and changes in compensation practices for
investment advice to retail consumers in the United Kingdom and
Australia.
Photo Gallery 1
Photo Gallery 2
To start the program, St. John’s Law Professor
Francis J. Facciolo set the stage for the day’s engaging
conversation by introducing the topics that would be explored
during the Symposium,
Michael A. Simons, the Law School’s Dean and John V.
Brennan Professor of Law and Ethics, then welcomed the
attendees and participants and delivered introductory remarks about
the significance of recent changes in financial regulation.
The Symposium’s opening speaker was Brian Shea, Chief Executive
Officer of Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company. He offered a
business person’s perspective on the most recent wave of financial
reform in the United States and shared his concerns about
developing compliance procedures to navigate the complex new
Dodd-Frank regulations. Shea also expressed reservations about the
Department of Labor’s initiatives toward implementing a heightened
standard of care for advisers who work with certain employee
pension plans.
The first panel addressing “The Future of Fiduciary Duties for
Financial Advice” was moderated by Christine Lazaro, Supervising
Attorney for the Securities Arbitration Clinic at St. John’s School
of Law. Panelists Ryan K. Bakhtiari, partner at Aidikoff, Uhl &
Bakhtiari, Mercer E. Bullard, Professor at the University of
Mississippi School of Law, Andrew J. Melnick, partner at Schindler
Cohen & Hochman LLP, and Paul R. Walsh, Vice President,
Assistant GC & Compliance Director at JP Morgan Chase, assessed
the likely efficacy of a heightened standard of care for all
individuals who provide investment advice, and the diversity of
their respective experiences greatly enriched the discussion.
Following an introduction by Amanda Jaret ‘13, Symposium Editor for
the St. John’s Law Review, Phyllis C. Borzi, Assistant Secretary of
Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the
United States Department of Labor, delivered the Symposium’s
keynote address. Her dynamic speech focused on the Department of
Labor’s proposed regulations that would hold all individuals who
provide financial advice to covered employee pension plans to a
fiduciary standard of care. Borzi animated the audience by adapting
her remarks to respond to points made by Symposium participants
earlier in the day.
After the keynote, the second panel considered “The Structure of
Regulation for Investment Advisers: A Self-Regulatory Organization
or Not?” Moderated by Professor Facciolo, the discussion included
panelists Jeffrey J. Hass, Professor at New York Law School, Anita
K. Krug, Professor at the University of Washington School of Law,
Mark Tibergien, CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, and David
Tittsworth, Executive Director/ Executive Vice President of the
Investment Adviser Association, who addressed the viability
of designating the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
as a self-regulatory organization for investment advisers and other
possible reforms to the regulatory structure for investment
advisers.
The Symposium’s final panel, also moderated by Professor Facciolo,
explored “International Issues in the Regulation of Financial
Advice, providing a range of perspectives on the international
implications of changing financial regulations in the United
States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Panelist Arthur B. Laby,
Professor at Rutgers University School of Law-Camden, discussed the
potential extraterritorial applications of American financial
regulations in light of the Morrison case. Gerard McMeel, Professor
from the University of Bristol Law School & Guild Hall
Chambers, Bristol, described the United Kingdom’s new approaches to
regulating compensation practices for those who provide investment
advice to retail consumers. Panelists Richard Batten, Partner at
Minter Ellison, and Gail Pearson, Professor from the University of
Sydney Business School, delivered a joint presentation exploring
the dimensions of Australia’s new substantive financial regulations
and emphasized the regulations’ benefits for consumers of financial
advice.
To close the program, Professor Facciolo shared concluding remarks
and thanked the panelists and the many practitioners, business
people, government attorneys, and students who attended the
Symposium. Reflecting on the day, Professor Facciolo said: “We were
excited that we could bring together such a diverse group of
speakers. Unlike many academic events, there was a mix of
practicing attorneys and legal academics who shed both practical
and theoretical light into how investment advice to retail
customers should be regulated. The opportunity to hear speeches
from Brian Shea, a leading business leader in financial services,
and Phyllis Borzi from the Department of Labor added another
dimension to the whole day, allowing us to hear how the financial
services industry and one of its primary regulators each approach
financial regulation."
At the post-event reception, attendees and participants had an
opportunity to network and continue the conversation across the
range of topics. “I’m delighted that the Symposium was so
successful,” Amanda Jaret said. “Helping plan and facilitate this
international conversation about financial regulation was one of
the greatest thrills of my law school career. The most amazing part
of the day was Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi's
decision to abandon her prepared speech so that she could provide a
more tailored keynote address incorporating criticisms and
commentary from the morning session. There was a remarkably smooth
give-and-take among all the panelists, and those who attended
seemed pleased that we offered a forum that simultaneously explored
discrete topics and wove them together into a unified whole. We
look forward to publishing the panelists’ papers in the St. John’s
Law Review.”