Posted by Nick Mehta on Thu, Dec 04, 2008 @ 12:15 AM
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission sent an open letter to CEOs of SEC-registered firms imploring them to not ignore or curtail their compliance responsibilities because of the economic downturn.
While CEOs across the world are trying to find ways to save money, they still need to observe their legal and regulatory responsibilities. Obviously, proper email archiving and email compliance are some of the SEC mandates for these firms.
From the letter:
While many firms are considering reductions and cost-cutting measures, we remind you of your firm's legal obligation to maintain an adequate compliance program reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the law. As SEC Chairman Cox noted recently, "[E]xperience has taught us again and again that giving short shrift to regulatory compliance subjects a company's investors, employees, management, directors, and every other stakeholder to unacceptable risks....[C]ompliance programs have made huge strides in recent years in becoming more formalized and more robust.... Now more than ever, companies need to take a long-term view on compliance and realize that their fiduciary responsibility requires a constant commitment to investors. That means sustaining their support for compliance during this market turmoil, and beyond it as well."