In The News
The giving of lavish gifts to meeting planners may soon come under the same scrutiny that the practice has received in the financial services industry, according to the February issue of Insurance Conference Planner (ICP).
ICP Editor, Regina Baraban, and staff writer, Michael Bassett, report that the focus has shifted to the gifting practices of mutual fund companies, “and that focus could very well widen to include the appropriateness of gift-giving to meeting planners.”
John Nester, a spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission, says the concern in the mutual fund industry is that “gift-giving practices are being used to win business and they end up compromising a company’s ability to work in the best interests of investors.”
Some of the gifts mentioned include golf outings, expensive wine, and tickets to sporting events, which are in excess of their industry’s restriction on gifts of more than $100 to business associates over the course of a year.
Corporate meeting planners may already be facing policies relating to gifts. One planner with a financial company is quoted in the article saying that a planner could be put in a compromising position with his or her company if a lavish gift is accepted. “It’s not worth us losing our jobs—or worth the perception of our department getting those perks.”
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