Group Think

? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Chief Economist James A. Overdahl will leave the agency to rejoin the private sector after serving since July 2007 as principal economic advisor to the Commission on policy, rulemaking, and litigation support. As Director of the Commission’s Office of Economic Analysis, Overdahl supervised the agency’s economics program, advising policymakers on a wide variety of topics affecting securities markets including the role of securities lending and short selling, market structure issues, money market mutual funds, credit rating agencies, and litigation matters. The Office of Economic Analysis is part of the SEC’s new Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation.

? The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) has released a survey which found that 90% of consumers would read their prospectus if it was provided as a short summary rather than in full detail. The survey also found that only half of consumers currently read the prospectuses provided with their investments and only 20% say they always read them.