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In the old days of Wall Street, serious investors journeyed to financial conferences across the country, eager to be the first to receive insightful updates into a public company's problems and promises.
Not anymore. Cyberspace and skittishness over tighter financial disclosure rules for public companies has turned that model inside out.
Consider the presentation that SunTrust Banks gave at last week's Merrill Lynch Banking and Financial Services Conference in New York City.
On Tuesday, the day before the event, SunTrust filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission its 26-page presentation, complete with charts and graphs and a lengthy description of terminology.
That same day it was available to investors who visited the SEC's Web site (www.sec.gov)
SunTrust spokesman Hugh Suhr said the filing was intended to keep with the spirit of disclosure rules dissuading companies from giving preferential release of information to certain investors.
He acknowledged the vast majority of the material already was public knowledge. In fact, there may have been just one slide with fresh information.
Never mind, as well, that the whole event was Webcast so anyone could have listened in on the presentation live.
SunTrust "just wanted to be conservative," Suhr said. It was a first for the Atlanta bank but it's possible that it started a trend to post every SunTrust presentation with the SEC in advance, he added. Other public companies have begun taking a similar approach.
Great for investors but a real downer for conference planners hoping to draw a crowd.