As compliance officers spend the summer poring over the 2,000-plus pages of Congress’ regulatory reform bill, they might want to pay particular attention to one provision about whistleblowing that could become a big deal for all public companies.
Tucked away in Section 922 is wording to create a bounty program within the Securities and Exchange Commission to let whistleblowers who report securities violations recover as much as 30 percent of any settlement that exceeds $1 million. That could give employees aware of misconduct a much stronger incentive to ignore the corporate hotline and dial the SEC directly.
