Rolling Back Sarbanes-Oxley Bad Move: Levitt

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt told a RiskMetrics conference of institutional investors that Wall Street’s, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s and President Bush’s to scale back corporate reforms—most notably Sarbanes-Oxley—will ultimately hurt the markets, Forbes.com reports.

“There are enormously well-funded lobbies doing everything they can to stop your efforts at reform,” Levitt said.

Levitt also faulted mutual funds for voting with management more than 90% of the time. “It’s ultimately up to you, the investors, to exercise the power that you have to hold boards accountable for their actions, from pay practices to corporate practices,” Levitt said. “With the size of your holdings, you have the leverage to affect changes. Companies that do good will do well.”