SEC Commissioner Unger Says She Plans to Step Down

Laura Unger, a Securities and Exchange Commission member who was acting chairwoman for six months earlier this year, said Tuesday she plans to leave the agency for the private sector.

Unger’s term expired in June, though she stayed on during a period when her departure would have left one person on the five-member commission. Republican Chairman Harvey Pitt, who took charge as chairman on Aug. 3, and Democrat Isaac Hunt are the other current commission members.

With Unger’s departure, and Hunt’s term also up, President Bush will have four SEC seats to fill.

Unger, a Republican, was acting agency head after former Democratic Chairman Arthur Levitt departed in February and before Pitt took office. In her tenure Unger called for action to end potential conflicts of interest for stock analysts and ordered a review of Internet stock-picking sites that may prey on unwary investors.

Unger said in an interview that she doesn’t intend to leave right away. “My plan is not to leave Harvey as a free-standing chairman and to make sure he has the support of at least one, if not two, colleagues before I go,” she said.

Unger doesn’t yet have a job lined up. She wants to work in the private sector, she said. “I would like to find a way to continue making a difference in the area of securities regulation and policymaking,” she said. “I’d like to learn more about the business world firsthand.”

Ethics officials at the agency recommend that departing commissioners publicize plans to leave sooner rather than later so they can recuse themselves from any votes involving prospective employers to avoid potential conflicts of interest, she said.

Unger, 40, became an SEC commissioner in November 1997 after working as an aide to then-Senate Banking Committee Chairman Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.). She also had been an SEC enforcement lawyer.

Bush can name four commissioners to join Pitt, including replacements for Unger and Hunt, whose term expired last year. But by law, no more than three commissioners can come from the same political party.

Texas Securities Commissioner Denise Voigt Crawford is “at the top of the short list” of possible successors, the New York Post reported. Crawford, who earlier was mentioned as a possible candidate for SEC chairwoman, couldn’t be reached for comment.

CSFB Intends to Eliminate 2,000 Jobs

Credit Suisse First Boston, the No. 3 U.S. underwriter of stocks and bonds, said it will slash 2,000 jobs as new Chief Executive John Mack reduces costs after a third-quarter loss of $120 million.

The brokerage giant, which is at the heart of a federal probe into allocation of hot initial public stock offerings in the late-’90s, has been struggling with high costs as the underwriting business has slowed dramatically this year.

Credit Suisse Group, the firm’s Swiss parent, said it probably lost $187 million total in the third quarter, its first unprofitable quarter since 1997.

New York-based Credit Suisse First Boston said Tuesday it will eliminate 7% of its work force and $1 billion worth of expenses. Its payroll became the largest on Wall Street after last year’s $13-billion purchase of rival Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc.

Securities firms have eliminated at least 12,000 jobs this year as plunging stock markets crimp investment banking and trading.

“Mack is doing what he was appointed to do,” said David Haysey, a fund manager at Deutsche Asset Management, which owns Credit Suisse shares. “The company has been paying too much to keep and attract staff.”

The job cuts will affect all businesses, Credit Suisse said, as third-quarter revenue fell 20% from the second quarter. Business worsened following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We face a far more severe economic environment than anyone imagined prior to the tragedy,” said Mack, who took over as CEO in July, in a memo to employees that was released to the media.

The reductions will mean that 4,600 jobs--or 15% of employees--have been chopped since the DLJ acquisition. About 750 of the planned cuts will be in investment banking. The dismissals will be completed by year-end, Mack said.

To cut costs Mack also has targeted the firm’s compensation structure, seeking to renegotiate lucrative guaranteed contracts with key employees. The firm’s chief technology investment banker, Frank Quattrone, has a revenue-sharing agreement.

Quattrone brought in much of the IPO business that has been under scrutiny by federal officials since last year. The probe is looking into whether Credit Suisse First Boston and its major Wall Street rivals received illegal kickbacks for IPOs sold to institutional investors.