The Carrots and Sticks of Compliance

Compliance on the buy side might reward the early adopters while penalizing firms that fall afoul of industry best practices and institutional investors' expectations.

As the topic of buy-side and hedge fund compliance continues at full sizzle, the proverbial stick of regulatory pressure may be getting more attention from the industry at the moment, but the carrot of more institutional capital and better long-term performance will more forcefully drive implementation of sophisticated compliance systems.

Recent proposals by the SEC mandating more robust and formalized compliance policies and procedures at some investment managers and hedge funds promise to keep