FUND COP TO DEPART

Barry Barbash, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s top official overseeing mutual funds, is leaving the agency to enter private law practice.

The SEC announced Wednesday that Barbash plans to leave in September. He will become a partner in the law firm Shearman & Sterling, heading its investment management practice.

Barbash is the latest of a string of high-level officials who have left the market watchdog agency for the private sector in recent months, including former Enforcement Director William McLucas and his deputy, Colleen Mahoney.

Barbash’s successor hasn’t been named.

Barbash, 44, came to the SEC from a law firm in New York City, becoming director of the agency’s Division of Investment Management in September 1993. He worked on improving disclosure of mutual fund fees and risks to investors, and other issues.

“His unswerving dedication to the integrity of the mutual fund industry and the protection of investors manifested itself in countless creative and effective measures,” said SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. “Clearly, tens of millions of investors are safer and better informed because of Barry’s dedicated efforts.”

Neal Sullivan, executive director of the North American Securities Administrators Assn., called Barbash “a tremendously effective and passionate advocate for the small investor.”