Having worked at a few of Goldman's peer banks, I'd also throw in that sometimes the regulatory compliance is more expensive than the fine. I worked on a board

Having worked at a few of Goldman's peer banks, I'd also throw in that sometimes the regulatory compliance is more expensive than the fine. I worked on a board level system for tracking regulatory compliance issues and there were hundreds at any given time. As cynicalkane points out, these regulations are far more complex than "don't be bad." You don't know who's got an ax to grind to enforce a regulation this year that's been lax for years before. Plus, IT is not cheap, generating all the reports vs paying a $50K fine? Just pay the fine, but now you're an evil big bank. You'll get over it.