A live forum will be held in New York City on June 1 to discuss modernization of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The forum will be held from 1-4 PM at the Grand Hyatt New York, near Grand Central Terminal, and will be an opportunity for the public to offer opinions to the SIPC Modernization Task Force on how best to improve the mission and operations of SIPC.
The forum will be the second in a series of national public forums designed to solicit public input about the modernization of SIPC. According to the task force, the effort is part of the SIPC modernization initiative launched on June 17, 2010. The forums are part of a full-scale review of the operations of SIPC, which has not been the focus of major new legislation in 30 years. The first forum was held online on Sept. 7, 2010 on the SIPC modernization website, SIPCModernization.org.
The website is designed to facilitate the widest possible range of public comments on current SIPC operations and possible changes to them, and features:
- Key topics (e.g., "levels of protection") that can be commented on and rated by visitors
- The ability for visitors to add new topics in order to express and solicit views
- A national webcast with phone and e-mail interaction opportunities
- A live national forum for members of the public to share their views with SIPC task force members.
SIPC maintains a special reserve fund mandated by Congress to protect the customers of insolvent brokerage firms. The task force will not be answering questions or providing information at the forum; it is designed solely to solicit information and public feedback from individuals.