Casey: State, Feds need to cooperate

SEC commissioner Kathleen Casey questioned whether a strict regulatory climate is harming U.S. competitiveness.

SEC commissioner Kathleen Casey today questioned whether a strict regulatory climate is harming U.S. competitiveness.
Ms. Casey, in addressing the annual conference of the North American Securities Administrators Association today in Seattle, there was a need for greater cooperation between federal and state regulators.
In an interview, outgoing NASAA president Joe Borg, director of the Alabama securities commission, said that the state regulator’s group supported evaluation of the regulatory system, but “it’s inaccurate and unfair” to say over-regulation has hurt competitiveness.
The deepening of European markets and Wall Street itself have caused capital-raising functions to migrate overseas, he said.
Ms. Casey also said the small enforcement cases states typically bring are “underappreciated.”
She said state regulators must continue to pursue small-scale fraudsters.
Mr. Borg said the states brought about 3,600 enforcement cases last year, versus about 400 at the SEC.
“The $20,000 that Mrs. Smith lost [in a local scam] is more important to her” than the SEC bringing a major case, he said.
Both federal and state regulators are needed to police the markets, he said.