Our History
The year 2002 marked a difficult time in the domestic securities market. Enron had imploded and almost daily new stories were in the press about company irregularities and securities fraud. Tyco, located in Exeter, New Hampshire became part of that evolving sad saga.
The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation, which reports to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, filed action against Tyco in the summer of 2002 uniquely focusing on corporate board oversight and governance. Its extensive investigation helped lead to Board reform and changes at Tyco, as well as an unprecedented $5 million settlement to be used to address investor education and corporate governance.
The Initiative for Corporate Governance and Investor Protection is being funded through this settlement and is providing New Hampshire the opportunity to demonstrate national leadership on this important topic.
New Hampshire’s response was indeed unique and helped serve as a model for subsequent securities actions by other regulators—meaning, using settlement monies to educate and help address how to make our capital markets more transparent and understandable. The ultimate lesson is that our system works.
William Gardner, New Hampshire’s Secretary of State, has stated, “It takes a balance between the private and public sectors, with the end result being to learn from the past and to continue to make our capital markets the envy of the world.”