April 08, 2008 at 2:00 pm by Tom Lydon
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner, Paul S. Atkins, is campaigning for a "new-product czar," who will help usher along the approval process for products such as exchange traded funds (ETFs).
David Hoffman for Investment News explains that the czar would coordinate the activities of the relevant parts of the SEC, ensuring that all aspects of the new product are considered in an orderly, efficient and timely manner.
The SEC recently proposed a rule to allow ETFs to be brought to market without individual exemptive orders, and the czar would make sure these funds at others wouldn’t languish at the commission.
Some wonder, though, if a "new-product czar" would really be needed and if one could just create unintended dynamics. Within the organization, questions about whose work begins when another’s ends persist, holding new products up in regulatory limbo. Would a czar just contribute to the problem?
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