Chief of SEC’s N.Y. Region Quits in Apparent Row

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s regional administrator in New York has quit following reports of friction over the conduct of an insider trading investigation.

Kathleen A. Warwick resigned effective today, SEC spokeswoman Mary McCue said. She declined to comment on the reported friction. Warwick took over as head of the commission’s most important regional office at the beginning of the year.

In her resignation letter, she said she “felt that it was in the best interests of the commission and cited her high regard for Chairman David Ruder,” McCue said.

A team of senior SEC officials from Washington had been conducting a review of the New York office.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a major rift had developed between Warwick and her staff when she tabled an investigation growing out of the so-called Yuppie Five case.