^aAlba Advisors LLC, 1541 Farmers Lane, Glen Mills, PA 19342, USA. E-mail: jhutchin@comcast.net

Abstract

Brokers' reliance on ethical conduct as a critical element of their service package is not new. What has changed for a handful of brokerage firms is the extent to which, in response to client demand, they now operate on a "global basis", a phrase that has taken on multiple levels of meaning. An unintended consequence of this evolution has been the emergence of a series of challenges, some apparent and some not, to be managed in assuring "utmost good faith" as a consistent deliverable for all of a global broker's numerous constituents.

This paper will first analyze and then suggest some possible solutions for management of the very real risk issues arising out of the following factors for global brokers:

• the increasing complexities of an already highly fragmented industry "gone global,"
• a scale of operations with which there is little experience,
• "utmost good faith" as not just a goal of company culture, but also the objective of process management, and
• management of sometimes seemingly confused alignments, or as some would argue, conflicts of interest.