SEC Ready to Revisit Independent Chairman Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission is about ready to revisit the controversial independent chairman rule, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told reporters Wednesday. He made the remarks following a House Financial Services Committee hearing. "We're a few days closer" to reopening the issue and putting it to a vote, Cox said.

But the debate will invariably be heated, he said. "This issue was a difficult one for the Commission when it was first considered, and those same battle scars and wounds may be reopened," Cox said. The SEC has twice voted 3-2 to pass the rule, first in June 2004 and again in June 2005.

Republican Commissioners Cynthia Glassman and Paul Atkins, who voted against the rule, are still with the SEC and are not likely to change their vote. It is not known how Cox will vote.

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