How Regulations Impact Investment Managers

Abstract

In this chapter, Oyster recounts how confidence in corporate America was shaken in the first part of the twentieth century due to the onslaught of troubling accounting scandals and glaring conflicts of interest that cropped up during the dot-com bubble. Leaders responded swiftly with tough regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley that is designed to ensure accuracy in the earnings reports produced by publicly traded companies. Regulators also erected a wall between investment research and investment banking within companies that provide both. More recently, Dodd-Frank was designed to provide stability in the US financial system. Although these regulations did not necessarily target the work conducted by stock-picking investment managers, they were impacted. Oyster discusses how and highlights the challenges active managers face as a result.