November 1, 2004

Hard Dollars Are A Smoking Gun

By Editorial Staff

Buyside firms that replace soft dollars with hard dollars for research should keep a close watch on the tab. Regulators could start asking questions if the cash costs for the same research are suddenly lower, according to one expert. It may raise suspicions that the previous soft-dollar arrangements were unethical, according to James Hartman, who runs the asset management practice at Ernst & Young in New York.