SEC Commissioner Issues Scathing Dissent From Ruling, Elizabeth Warren Echoes Concern.
Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kara Stein on Monday denounced the regulator's decision to continue providing special benefits to a big bank after its conviction for manipulating interest rates.
The SEC spared Royal Bank of Scotland Group from losing its regulatory status as a well-known seasoned issuer on Friday. The bank was criminally convicted earlier this year for manipulating the Libor benchmark interest rate. The bank's crimes, Stein said Monday in a dissent to the SEC decision, harmed individuals, businesses and governments worldwide.
The SEC issued a waiver to another well-known seasoned issuer after criminal misconduct last fall. Stein said the regulator was wrong then, and "compounded that error when it granted a waiver for another criminal wrongdoer" -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
"The arguments in both instances implicate a structural problem with our policy, whether dealing with criminal or civil misconduct," wrote Stein, who was appointed to the SEC by President Barack Obama. "They rest largely upon the notion that the triggering conduct is insignificant when considered in the context of a large financial institution with global operations."
Stein faulted the commission for repeatedly waiving disqualification provisions set out by Congress and the SEC at the risk of harming investors and markets.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/28/kara-stein-elizabeth-warren_n_5229555.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013
GOOD she spoke out.
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