Investment Banks

In the wake of a series of recent corporate scandals and bankruptcies, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandated that the GAO study the involvement of investment banks (IB) with two companies, Enron and Global Crossing. In this report, the term "IB" includes not only securities firms but also those bank holding companies. with securities affiliates or business divisions that assist clients in obtaining funds to finance investment projects. GAO agreed to provide publicly available information on the roles IB played in designing, executing, and participating in certain structured finance transactions, IB, and Federal regulators' oversight of these transactions, and the role that the IBs' research analysts played with Enron and Global Crossing. Charts and tables.