SEC Creates International Affairs Office
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard C. Breeden said Monday that he is creating an International Affairs office to coordinate enforcement cooperation with foreign stock regulators.
Breeden announced the new office at a news conference where he reported on cooperative agreements reached last week with securities regulators in France and the Netherlands.
The new Office of International Affairs will be headed by Michael D. Mann, now an associate director for international affairs in the SEC’s Enforcement Division.
Breeden said the new office, which will be responsible for negotiating formal cooperation agreements, known as memoranda of understanding, “underlines the very high priority the commission places on international cooperation.”
Last week Breeden signed cooperation agreements with Dutch and French securities regulators that will allow the exchange of information to help stamp out insider trading and other market abuses.
Breeden said the French agreement is contingent upon the passage of legislation pending before Congress that would allow the SEC to guarantee foreign authorities that confidential information they supply to U.S. investigators would be kept confidential in this country.
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