The Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be getting tougher on firms by bringing enforcement actions and imposing fines for activity that in the past would merely have netted a deficiency letter, Investment News reports. “What sticks out to me was the level of sanctions and citations based on the violations that were cited,” Rob Tull of SEC Compliance Consultants told IN. The SEC says the agency isn’t harsher, but it’s taking action against those firms that did not correct earlier deficiencies after they said they would. Lori Richards, the director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, says the criteria for bringing enforcement actions is no different from before, but “since the exam program is now focusing its attention on areas of greatest compliance risk, we are finding more problems than before.”
