THE SEC: AN EXAMINATION OF ITS STRUCTURE, POWERS AND PROCEDURES
| Pages | 31-41 |
| Published date | 01 March 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024791 |
| Date | 01 March 1993 |
| Author | ROWAN BOSWORTH‐DAVIES |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
THE SEC: AN EXAMINATION OF ITS STRUCTURE, POWERS
AND PROCEDURES
Received: 20th August, 1993
ROWAN BOSWORTH-DAVIES
ROWAN BOSWORTH-DAVIES
AFTER READING FOR THE BAR AT THE MIDDLE
TEMPLE, THE AUTHOR JOINED THE
MAGISTRATES COURTS SERVICE AS A CLERK
TO
THE JUSTICES IN
1971.
TEN YEARS SERVICE
IN
THE METROPOLITAN POLICE. WHERE, AS A
FRAUD SQUAD OFFICER, HE STUDIED AT THE
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION,
WAS FOLLOWED BY EMPLOYMENT AS
INVESTIGATIONS MANAGER AT FIMBRA.
WHERE HE OBTAINED FIRST-HAND
EXPERIENCE OF THE TIMID BRITISH
REGULATION PHILOSOPHY, A FACT WHICH
LED HIM TO ACCEPT THE POST OF FRAUD AND
FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS MANAGER AT
RICHARDS BUTLER. AN INTERNATIONAL LAW-
FIRM IN 1988 IN 1993
HE
JOINED TITMUSS
SAINER & WEBB IN THEIR SPECIALIST
FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT. A MASTER
OF
ARTS FROM EXETER UNIVERSITY, HE IS AN
HONORARY RESEARCH FELLOW IN ITS CENTRE
FOR
POLICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDIES
AND HAS PUBLISHED WIDELY ON THE SUBJECT
OF
REGULATION AND FINANCIAL FRAUD.
ABSTRACT
The author examines the historical and
political
background
to the
creation
of the
Securities and Exchange Commission,
identifying the use made by its architects of
earlier English company legislation to
define its regulatory
remit;
before
making
a
detailed evaluation of its structure and
powers.
The paper continues by setting out
the
major procedural functions of
the
Com-
mission before
ending with a
comparative
analysis of its
regulatory
functions and
effectiveness.
'If there is a single, solid tradition
of this great agency, if there is a
unifying thread of continuity that
kept the Commission — and still
keeps the Commission
—
an inte-
gral part of America's economic
destiny, it is the fusion of good
people, important problems and
workable laws.'1
INTRODUCTION
'We don't want an SEC here.' These
words have been uttered so often,
without correction, by British com-
mentators making unfavourable
comparisons between the British and
American financial regulatory
regimes, that over a period of time
they have become almost an article
31
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