The Securities Investor Protection Corporation: Past, Present, and Future
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THE SECURITIES INVESTOR PROTECTION CORPORATION: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITAL MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ENTERPRISES OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 7, 2012 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 112–105 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–077 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama, Chairman JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Vice Chairman BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts, Ranking PETER T. KING, New York Member EDWARD R. ROYCE, California MAXINE WATERS, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York RON PAUL, Texas LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York GARY G. MILLER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas RUBE´ N HINOJOSA, Texas PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JOHN CAMPBELL, California CAROLYN MCCARTHY, New York MICHELE BACHMANN, Minnesota JOE BACA, California THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts KEVIN McCARTHY, California BRAD MILLER, North Carolina STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico DAVID SCOTT, Georgia BILL POSEY, Florida AL GREEN, Texas MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin JOE DONNELLY, Indiana NAN A. S. HAYWORTH, New York ANDRE´ CARSON, Indiana JAMES B. RENACCI, Ohio JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut ROBERT HURT, Virginia GARY C. PETERS, Michigan ROBERT J. DOLD, Illinois JOHN C. CARNEY, JR., Delaware DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona MICHAEL G. GRIMM, New York FRANCISCO ‘‘QUICO’’ CANSECO, Texas STEVE STIVERS, Ohio STEPHEN LEE FINCHER, Tennessee JAMES H. CLINGER, Staff Director and Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITAL MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ENTERPRISES SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey, Chairman DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona, Vice MAXINE WATERS, California, Ranking Chairman Member PETER T. KING, New York GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma RUBE´ N HINOJOSA, Texas DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois BRAD MILLER, North Carolina JEB HENSARLING, Texas CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin JOHN CAMPBELL, California ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan JOE DONNELLY, Indiana KEVIN McCARTHY, California ANDRE´ CARSON, Indiana STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut BILL POSEY, Florida GARY C. PETERS, Michigan MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania AL GREEN, Texas NAN A. S. HAYWORTH, New York KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota ROBERT HURT, Virginia MICHAEL G. GRIMM, New York STEVE STIVERS, Ohio ROBERT J. DOLD, Illinois (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: March 7, 2012 ................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: March 7, 2012 ................................................................................................... 57 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012 Borg, Joseph P., Director, Alabama Securities Commission ................................ 39 Bowen, Sharon Y., Acting Chair, Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) .................................................................................................................... 12 Caruso, Steven B., Partner, Maddox Hargett & Caruso, P.C. ............................. 42 Hammerman, Ira, Senior Managing Director and General Counsel, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) ..................................... 43 Harbeck, Stephen P., President and Chief Executive Officer, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) ............................................................. 10 Stein, Ron, CFP, President, The Network for Investor Action and Protection (NIAP) ................................................................................................................... 45 Vitter, Hon. David, a United States Senator from the State of Louisiana ......... 7 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Borg, Joseph P. ................................................................................................. 58 Bowen, Sharon Y. ............................................................................................. 87 Caruso, Steven B. ............................................................................................. 160 Hammerman, Ira .............................................................................................. 165 Harbeck, Stephen P. ......................................................................................... 172 Stein, Ron .......................................................................................................... 211 Vitter, Hon. David ............................................................................................ 225 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Garrett, Hon. Scott: Written statement of the Bond Dealers of America (BDA) ........................... 229 Written statement of the Financial Services Institute .................................. 232 Perlmutter, Hon. Ed: Written statement of Peter J. Leveton, Co-Chairman, Agile Funds Inves- tor Committee ............................................................................................... 237 (V) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI THE SECURITIES INVESTOR PROTECTION CORPORATION: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Wednesday, March 7, 2012 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITAL MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT SPONSORED ENTERPRISES, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:37 a.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Scott Garrett [chair- man of the subcommittee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Garrett, King, Royce, Pearce, Fitzpatrick, Hayworth, Hurt, Grimm, Stivers, Dold; Waters, Sher- man, Maloney, Perlmutter, Donnelly, Peters, and Green. Also present: Representative Cassidy. Chairman GARRETT. Good morning. The Subcommittee on Cap- ital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises is called to order. Today’s hearing is entitled, ‘‘The Securities Investor Protec- tion Corporation: Past, Present, and Future.’’ This hearing will now come to order, and I recognize myself for 4 minutes to give an opening statement. Today’s hearing is a broad oversight hearing on the Securities In- vestor Protection Corporation (SIPC.) It is not meant entirely to be focused solely on the particular aspects of SIPC’s work. But to me, the failure of SIPC in relation to the Madoff liquidation is so funda- mental relative to the protections that SIPC is supposed to provide to investors, and so antithetical to the goals that SIPC and Con- gress set out to achieve at the very beginning, that I would like to focus much of my time, and my thoughts, and my energy, and my comments on the circumstances surrounding that particular case. I also think that it is worthwhile to hear today about SIPC’s work in regard to the Lehman bankruptcy, and also to examine the long-awaited and recently-released report of SIPC’s Modernization Task Force, as well. In going through that Task Force and looking at it, unfortunately, is that it is somewhat of a missed opportunity, if you will, to seriously study some of the shortcomings of SIPC ex- posed by the recent failures of the broker-dealers. So let us return now to the failures of the Madoff firm. Once ex- amined, the facts of that case—as we are all probably too famil- iar—the Madoff firm was regulated by both FINRA and the SEC. And it repeatedly received government stamps of approval that it was operating, basically, legally. The firm proudly displayed the SIPC logo which, again, implies government backing, since SIPC is backed by the U.S. Treasury. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:08 Dec 12, 2012 Jkt 075077 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\75077.TXT TERRI 2 Madoff investors paid taxes to the IRS, the U.S. Government, for years. Again, another government agency saying that its invest- ments and profits were, well, real. Since around the same time that SIPC was enacted, investors no longer held stock certificates, so the only proof of ownership they have, or had, was a statement