At the Bell

Pitt recruiting SEC economist

As part of an effort to focus the Securities and Exchange Commission on economic issues, chairman Harvey L. Pitt said he is looking for a “highly regarded” economist to fill the post of chief economist that has been vacant at the agency for almost a year.

Mr. Pitt, speaking at the Securities Industry Association’s conference in Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday said he was also looking for a chief technology officer, a newly created position.

In his remarks, he stressed that “one size fits all” regulation is not the direction he hopes the SEC will take on a range of issues, including the importance of firms having sufficient backup systems and contingency plans.

He also wants to speed up the approval of new products, saying that taking one year to approve applications of some products does not serve investors’ best interests.

He did not specifically give any guidelines about analysts and their potential conflicts of interest in stock picks, commenting only that he will be able to speak about the issue soon.

401(k) advice bill advances in House

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved by a vote of 25-15 the Retirement Security Advice Act, which will allow mutual funds and other financial companies to provide investment advice to employees who have 401(k) plans.

Two Democrats, Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee and Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, voted for the bill, and several Democrats expressed support for making investment advice more available but said they wanted to make minor changes.

The bill was approved Oct. 3 by the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which also has jurisdiction.

SIA forms panel on crisis planning

The Securities Industry Association has set up a new business-continuity committee in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The group will focus on contingency planning for securities houses in case of business interruptions.

The SIA, based in New York and Washington, is also launching an investor-education website, SIA Investor. It will be up next spring.

Nasdaq is seeking overseas partners

The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. in Washington will be looking for partners with which to merge overseas, says Hardwick Simmons, chairman and CEO. “We’ve got to grow globally,” said Mr. Simmons, speaking at an industry conference in Boca Raton, Fla.

The market is looking for potential mergers before it goes public. It is hoping to do so by late next year. But Mr. Simmons added about the initial public offering, “We’re not in any rush.”

Clarification

* Swiss Reinsurance Co. of New York insists that it is committed to providing life reinsurance in the event of another terrorist attack, but that it is trying to figure out how to do so (InvestmentNews, Nov. 5).

“It’s a matter of how we will provide this coverage, not a matter of whether,” says Stephen Dishart, a spokesman for Swiss Re. He says the commitment applies to group and individual policies.

He adds that the company is trying to work out the method for providing reinsurance “by working with the government on a combined private and public process.”