SEC Launches Investor Advisory Committee

The Securities and Exchange Commission has formed an Investor Advisory Committee so that investors can give their feedback on such issues as “new products, trading strategies, fee structures, and the effectiveness of disclosure, among other issues,” said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro in announcing the new committee. Schapiro siad that through the venture, the SEC is “reaching out to investors in a new and significant way.”

SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar will serve as the Commission’s primary sponsor of the Investor Advisory Committee. “Investors need a greater voice at the Commission,” Aguilar said. “The Commission’s traditional role as the investor’s advocate, as well as our deliberations, will be enhanced by the range of views the Advisory Committee will provide.” The SEC said the Advisory Committee will begin its work in the next few weeks, after the SEC staff files the Committee’s charter with Congress.

The SEC said the Investor Advisory Committee’s charter provides for a broad scope of interest, including: advising the Commission on matters of concern to investors in the securities markets; providing the Commission with investors’ perspectives on current, non-enforcement, regulatory issues; and serving as a source of information and recommendations to the Commission regarding the Commission’s regulatory programs from the point of view of investors.

According to the SEC, the Advisory Committee will be co-chaired by Richard (Mac) Hisey, President of AARP Financial Incorporated and AARP Funds, and Hye-Won Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Governance for TIAA-CREF. Fred Joseph, President of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and Securities Administrator for the State of Colorado, will be an ex officio participant.

Other notable members of the advisory committee include Dallas Salisbury, President and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute; Barbara Roper, Director of Investor Protection, Consumer Federation of America; Mercer Bullard, Founder and President of Fund Democracy Inc.; Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Capital Management; and Jeff Brown, Senior Vice President, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.