Corporate scandals in the United States and Europe have drawn attention to
the importance of “gatekeepers” in the market, causing the imminent need to
regulate their activity and responsibility. In cases where there is a contract,
is clear how to manage the responsibility, ambiguity exists in the legal way to
proceed if it does not exist. This article discusses the different positions that
have been held so far, and proposes a unified vision for regulating the activity
and responsibility of the financial analyst as a gatekeeper, in the absence of a
contractual relationship. It is argued, on the basis of comparative law analysis,
that the analyst as a gatekeeper will be liable before third parties when they
are part of the group of persons to whom the information was provided or
that reasonably could obtain it, and the damage is cause in the operation for
which the information was developed. Torts are the most effective instrument for
these cases in civil law systems.