Quotable 2009: Regulators ‘don’t understand’

“The misinformation resulting in this movement towards an agent ban is exemplified by a piece in the news the other day that showed  [New York Attorney General Andrew] Cuomo reportedly saying [New York’s public pension investment] programme has not been impacted by the . . . restrictions. This reaction is not surprising but it does highlight how many do not fully understand the business.”

– Partner at a boutique fund placement agent. As the year ended the SEC was reviewing the 170 responses it received over a plan to prevent investment firms from hiring placement agents to solicit public pensions for commitments. As the above quote indicates, the response from the market was almost entirely focused on removing the placement ban from the proposal. As placement agents were faced with seeing their business hurt in 2010, some lashed out at the actions of Cuomo during his pay-to-play investigation.

Excerpted from PEM’s “Agent of change”