Procedural Protections for Individuals in Financial Enforcement Actions

In the five years since the financial crisis began, critics have argued that regulators aren’t doing enough to hold individual actors accountable for their conduct leading up to the crisis.

These critics, however, may soon be appeased, with regulators promising to name names and hold individuals accountable in enforcement actions going forward.

While there is general agreement with the basic principle that individuals should be held accountable for their conduct, pursuing individuals raises questions regarding what procedural protections should be in place to safeguard those whose conduct may not ultimately warrant an enforcement action. Indeed, regulators have long grappled with the question of whether, and how, to pursue individuals in enforcement actions, and lessons learned from prior individual enforcement actions can help guide us going forward.

Originally published by Consumer Financial Services Law Report; reprinted with permission.