May 5 SEC Rountable on Short Selling Regulations

Last week, the SEC announced that the Commission will be holding a roundtable on May 5 to discuss the Commission's recent rule proposals on two new approaches to restrictions on short selling. At issue are whether short sale price test restrictions or short sale circuit breakers should be adopted.

The roundtable will take place on May 5, starting at 10:00am at the SEC's Headquarters located at 100 F Street, N.E., in Washington, DC, and will be open to the public on a first-come first-served basis. The roundtable will also be webcast via a link on the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov.

According to the SEC's press release, the roundtable's participants will include "leaders from self-regulatory organizations, trading venues, the financial services industry, investment firms, and the academic community." The format will be one in which the Chairman and Commissioners will question the panelists, and a members of the SEC staff will facilitate the discussions. Though a final agenda will be posted in the near future, the Commission has posted a preliminary agenda on their website:

Welcome from the Chairman
10:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m.

Panel 1
10:10 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.
Market Changes and Investor Confidence; Are short sale price tests or short sale circuit breakers necessary or effective?

Break
11:20 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Panel 2
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Bid versus Tick versus Circuit Breakers; Discussion of short sale price tests and views on short sale circuit breakers.

Lunch
12: 45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

Panel 3
1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Lessons and Insights from Empirical Data; Short sale price tests and short sale circuit breakers by the numbers.

Closing Remarks
3:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

The full text of the SEC press release announcing the roundtable, including a link to the preliminary agenda, is available at: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-88.htm