The Council Of Institutional Investors Calls On The SEC To Separate The NYSE's Regulatory And Business Functions

The Council of Institutional Investors,an association of 141 public, corporate and union pension funds with over $3 trillion in investments,today sent a letter to SEC Chairman William H.Donaldson urging the SEC to separate the New York Stock Exchange 's regulatory and business functions.

The Council continues to believe that a business such as the NYSE should not act as a self- regulator and should not be charged with protecting the interests of the public.The only way to ensure the continued protection of the hundreds of millions of investors in U.S.equities markets is to separate the self-regulatory role from the trading role of the exchanges,by insuring that the regulators are not selected,directly or indirectly,by the individuals they are expected to regulate.

The Council 's letter called for better disclosure by both the NYSE and the SEC.At a minimum, the NYSE should commit to adopting the disclosure requirements of its listed companies.The SEC should publicly release its 40-page report on the NYSE and the NYSE 's expected response to the report.

Expressing concern that the SEC has been reluctant to address problems at the NYSE,the Council also requested enhanced SEC oversight of the stock exchanges.