Dealers’ relationships with their regulators may be thawing

Some of the largest increases in this year’s ratings relate to the quality of regulators’ communication with the industry (includes chart)

Dealers are wondering if regulators looked into every client complaint because of media pressure during the downturn

Although small firms laud regulators’ efforts in communications, they are still concerned about their fees

Regulators counter that auditors are well trained but cannot be expected to know everything about a particular business

Dealers still have beefs; but in general, they say, regulators are improving transparency, timeliness

Other dealers, however, say they are getting fair value from regulators for the fees they pay