STREET SMARTS

This book is a forceful call to action for Wall Street leaders to strengthen and protect their shareholders' value by instituting and maintaining much higher professional standards. The authors-with their dozens of years as insiders on Wall Street-cast a revealing eye on corporate and individual conduct in financial institutions and markets. They identify the major issues of professional conduct confronting the banking and securities industries today- including misrepresentation, market rigging, insider trading, money laundering, whistleblowing, and conflicts of interests-as they recount the lessons of scandals and rogue behavior that have rocked even the most venerable firms on the Street. Smith and Walter argue that it is not enough for firms to rely on surveillance and compliance efforts to prevent their people from stepping over the line of legal and appropriate conduct; reputations in the finance world are too important. Connecting professional conduct to shareholder value, the authors call for immediate action. The industry, they contend, needs to create an environment in which each firm develops its leaders and individual managers to take responsibility for shaping and upholding the standards through creative and supportive employee development and retention programs.