Wayne, N.J.-based Valley National Bancorp identified a material weakness related to the abilities and responsibilities assigned to its ethics and compliance group to "identify and evaluate the severity and financial reporting implications of allegations of non-compliance with laws and regulations."
According to the company's annual filing, the company did not create controls regarding communication to senior management in these matters.
The issue is clearly not financial in nature, wrote Sandler O'Neill analyst Frank Schiraldi, who maintained his "hold" rating on the stock. "Based upon the language describing the weakness in the 10-K, we gather that it stems from an employee allegation serious enough that it should have been 'run up the flagpole' to senior management but wasn't due to a failure of internal communication," he wrote.
