"Some have abused the system"

In late summer 2002, Dick Grasso, Chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange announced the New York Stock Exchange's board of directors had approved changes in the NYSE's listing standards aimed at restoring investor confidence. The measures are expected to ensure the independence of directors and strengthen corporate-governance practices. During his remarks, Grasso commented on the challenge of rebuilding faith in the stock market.

It is a very magnetic proposition to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Part of the cachet, and the quality, of listing is the extent and quality of the NYSE's self-regulatory mechanisms.

Three elements constitute the quality of this institution: the quality of the great companies that are privileged to trade, the quality of the markets we maintain for those companies and the quality of oversight of both those markets and market participants. I see no inherent conflict in that.

In fact, if you go back to the very roots of our creation, we are a private institution with a public purpose. The real public purpose is serving 85 million investors in this country.

It is a very important statement that this special (Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards) committee and our board have made about accountability to investors and about public trust and confidence in the markets, in issuers and in the integrity of financial intermediaries.

There is no greater wealth-creation engine the world has ever experienced than capitalism as practiced in this great country of ours.

There are some who have abused the system, and they deserve to be exited from the system. There are some who have broken the law, and they deserve to go to jail.

I think that's an important message the American consumer and American investor need to hear. As many of you have heard me say, if you rob a bank in this great country, you go to jail. If you rob the shareholders, you should go to jail. No ambiguity there.

I have my own caveat: You should not be able to shelter ill-gotten gains through Homestead provisions of bankruptcy codes. All those magnificent $20-plus million mansions should be up for return to the investors who have been defrauded.