Former SEC Head Optimistic About Fund Industry

Despite acknowledging that late trading probably extended beyond just Edward J. Stern and Canary Capital, the former Securities and Exchange Commission fund regulation head said that late trading is probably not as widespread as some have recently suggested.

In a Q&A with The Wall Street Journal, Barry Barbash also hypothesized about why New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer got the tip about questionable trading practices rather than the SEC. Barbarsh said that perhaps the tipster thought Spitzer could do more with the information, or, perhaps, the attorney general was simply in the right place at the right time.

"SEC staffers, and I acknowledge that I was once one of them, have suggested that if they got this tip, they would’ve acted on it accordingly," said Barbash, responding to criticism that the SEC should have uncovered the scandal first. "Eliot Spitzer got the tip, and he ran with it."

The mutual fund industry is under a huge legal dilemma for the first time, and Barbash said a lot of it has to do with money coming into the industry at a slower pace. To get more business, some people were "willing to cross the line," he said.

"This doesn’t mean you’re looking at an inherently bad industry," Barbash said. He added, "Key to the idea of fairness in business is that you treat all your customers the same."

Barbash also commented on imminent regulations in the hedge fund industry, saying, "I would not be shocked if that [hedge fund] report concludes that the SEC should adopt regulations for hedge funds."

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The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

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