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When I worked for a finance adjacent firm, not even a firm that handled money, my compliance policy was super strict even by industry standards and I was a lowl

When I worked for a finance adjacent firm, not even a firm that handled money, my compliance policy was super strict even by industry standards and I was a lowly Sr. SWE. The reasoning I was given was to not never even provide a hint of impropriety or using data ahead of our customers. Reputation was everything. The blanket company-wide policy was as follows. Certain departments had rules on top of this. 1. Limited to general stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, etc. No derivatives allowed (options, etc.). Even private stock or private options from my prior require required a review from compliance when I started. 2. No selling for a gain within 30 days of the purchase date on ANY security. Selling for a loss was allowed at any time. 3. All brokerage accounts had to be linked to their compliance portal. An automated compliance check pulled your statements weekly and would open a ticket with compliance if anything looked to violate policy. If your brokerage was not supported electronically, you had to submit monthly paper statements. I don't see why Congress shouldn't be subject to similar rules, especially those on finance committees.

chernevik 5y ago
Limiting Congress and staff to ETFs and mutual funds seems reasonable.
- AmericanChopper 5y ago
  On the right committees I think you could probably do pretty well knowing when to buy SPY puts.
seniorivn 5y ago
there is no need for common sense rules if you have a working highly competitive democracy Any politician would know that doing anything that can be interpreted as a shady buisness would end their political career for good. Like that time Joe Biden stole autobiographycal speech from British politician. It ended his campaign at the time, but had little to no effect on his career overall
DavidPeiffer 5y ago
>The reasoning I was given was to not never even provide a hint of impropriety or using data ahead of our customers. Reputation was everything. One bit I took away from grad school was the strict standards around conflicts of interest. The big concept was "Disclose and avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety." The avoidance of impropriety is a much higher standard, and unfortunately it's all too common to see that standard not applied in government. "Rules for thee, not for me" mentality.
dfrey1 5y ago
This makes so much sense to me. I had a similar experience at Goldman, and I had a friend who worked there who got called by compliance at the bank he worked at, because his financial adviser had bought a stock he wasn't allowed to. I think it's wild that our government isn't held to the same standard.

chernevik 5y ago

Limiting Congress and staff to ETFs and mutual funds seems reasonable.

AmericanChopper 5y ago
On the right committees I think you could probably do pretty well knowing when to buy SPY puts.

seniorivn 5y ago

there is no need for common sense rules if you have a working highly competitive democracy Any politician would know that doing anything that can be interpreted as a shady buisness would end their political career for good. Like that time Joe Biden stole autobiographycal speech from British politician. It ended his campaign at the time, but had little to no effect on his career overall

DavidPeiffer 5y ago

>The reasoning I was given was to not never even provide a hint of impropriety or using data ahead of our customers. Reputation was everything. One bit I took away from grad school was the strict standards around conflicts of interest. The big concept was "Disclose and avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety." The avoidance of impropriety is a much higher standard, and unfortunately it's all too common to see that standard not applied in government. "Rules for thee, not for me" mentality.

dfrey1 5y ago

This makes so much sense to me. I had a similar experience at Goldman, and I had a friend who worked there who got called by compliance at the bank he worked at, because his financial adviser had bought a stock he wasn't allowed to. I think it's wild that our government isn't held to the same standard.