The regulatory clampdowns following corporate and mutual fund scandals in the US are placing companies under severe budget pressure during a period of diminished profit margins, warned Mark Lacritz, president of the Securities Industry Association, the US trade body.

Speaking in front over 700 delegates at the SIA's annual technology management conference in New York, Lacritz, said: "Regulators, politicians and the media have put us on the defensive as an industry. The bull market in regulation has coincided with market declines, revenue declines and waning investor confidence."