In addition, roughly 70% feel that forthcoming federal position limits in energy markets will not have a significant impact on their firms, the study commissioned by NICE Actimize, a financial crime, compliance and risk management solutions provider, and the law firm Fulbright and Jaworski.
Nearly 25% have no idea if their firm examines for suspicious trading activity at least once a day, the study shows.
The study shows that despite the barrage of new federal regulations mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including unprecedented regulation of the more than $600 trillion in the over-the-counter derivatives market, many firms are unprepared to comply with new reporting requirements. And while most respondents said that they were sure regulators were going to ramp up enforcement, many were unaware of their own compliance systems.
"The firms understand they need to do something, but in terms of how far along they are in really implementing an effective compliance program, I think there's a bit of a disconnect," said James Heinzman, NICE Actimize's managing director of securities solutions. "The firms know the regulators are stepping up enforcement action, but the amount of execution on the industry side was a little surprising. They just haven't moved far."
The study surveyed 140 senior executives and compliance personnel in the energy trading sector. Nearly 94% of the respondents surveyed were based in North America, and the majority worked within the natural gas, oil or power sector.
Among the key findings, the study found more than 25% of respondents felt their firm was not devoting enough staff and resources to complying with the new regulations even though nearly 80% said the number of audits and enforcement actions by federal regulators against energy trading firms would increase.
Additionally, nearly 50% of respondents ranked the energy trading industry's readiness to comply with the new regulations as below acceptable.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
