Senior In-House Professionals at Major Financial Institutions Speak Out on Securities Law Compliance and Prevention Strategies; Critical Issues in Corporate Governance; Responding to Enhanced Enforcement and Regulation; Handling Global Investigations;

January 22, 2015 8:05am

Panel I from 8:05 – 9:05

Ellen Slipp
Managing Director and Head of Litigation
CitiGroup Private Bank

Bradford A. Berenson
Vice President, Litigation & Legal Policy
General Electric Company

Philip L. Kirstein
Senior Officer and Independent Compliance Officer
AllianceBernstein Funds

Ari Nakkab
Managing Director & Compliance Managing Director
JP Morgan

David Boyd Booker
Director & Senior Counsel
Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank

Brendan J. Dowd
Assistant General Counsel
Bank of America

Michael Sternhell
Senior Vice President, Senior Counsel
OppenheimerFunds

Panel II from 9:05 – 10:05

Carrie L. Chelko
Chief Counsel, Lincoln Financial Group Distribution
Lincoln Financial Group

Stephen J. Shine
Chief Regulatory Counsel
Prudential Financial (Newark, NJ)

Joshua E. Levine
Managing Director and Head – ICG Regulatory Enforcement Office of the General Counsel
Citigroup, Inc.

Ketty A. Saez
Assistant Vice President & Senior Counsel
John Hancock Financial Services

Mark J. Happe
President and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
MMC Securities

Justin M. Kletter
Director & Assistant General Counsel
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Stuart T. Rebish
Director and Associate General Counsel
UBS Financial Services Inc.

Moderator for Both Panels:

Sandra Hanna
Partner
Bruch Hanna LLP

The First Line of Defense: Minimizing Litigation, Enforcement and Regulatory Threats

  • Timely, candid, and neutral marketing materials and disclosures
  • Ensuring that disclosures provide investors with information sufficient to make informed decisions
  • Compliance manual drafting and essential language
  • Best practices for accurately valuing complex instruments and making proper estimations
  • Strategies for reducing reliance on rating agencies
  • Internal check and balance: implementing training programs and internal compliance mechanisms
  • Early dispute detection & intervention to avoid suit

Employing Outside Counsel and Industry Experts

  • Which cases require retention of outside counsel?
  • Retaining effective counsel while keeping costs down

Discovery Obligations and Document Management

  • Formulating a document management and e-discovery plan that defends against aggressive requests
  • Lessons learned on discovery burdens and the exorbitant costs of discovery falling on defendants
  • Scope of information that the defense must turn over to plaintiff s and the varying requirements of regulators

Whistleblowers

  • Dodd Frank implementation
  • Separation agreements: departing employees and anti-retaliation
  • Incentivizing reporting early and internally
  • Bounties, tip trends, and areas of enforcement

Timely Case Assessment

  • Evaluating the cost/benefit of litigation in the early stages versus settlement in the wake of the SEC’s departure from allowing defendant’s to settle without admitting or denying the allegations
  • Examining current trends and modern claimants in order to plan for future actions