E-Discovery Requests Loom for Financial Services Firms

As regulators delve into firms' archives to try to pin down responsibility for the current financial meltdown, experts anticipate that litigation will rise sharply. The FBI already announced that it is investigating Freddie Mac, AIG and Lehman, and it is expected that countless other firms will be asked to produce data to support other investigations.

Vivian Tero, program manager for compliance infrastructure at research firm IDC, says e-discovery already has risen on Wall Street's priority list. "The selling cycle [for e-discovery products and services] has become shorter. The need is immediate -- firms have regulators breathing down their backs," she explains. "Many companies are very worried and concerned, and want systems to respond [to potential e-discovery requests]."