Comment Letter

November 15, 2002

Eliot Spitzer
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271-0332

Dear Mr. Spitzer:

The Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets, CIEBA, is the voice of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) on employee benefit plan asset management and investment issues.  CIEBA is a nationally recognized forum for ERISA-governed corporate pension plan sponsors on fiduciary and investment matters. CIEBA members represent 120 of the nation's largest corporate pension funds, managing more than one trillion dollars in assets on behalf of sixteen million plan participants and beneficiaries.

CIEBA is concerned that using lawsuits as the means to address conflicts of interest between research and investment banking leaves important interested parties, like us, out of the process. Our members are direct and indirect consumers of investment research who might be affected by your actions. We understand that the focus of your investigation has been on research for retail investors, but we believe changes in how investment banks manage research are likely to affect institutional research as well.

Those of us affected by your proposed changes should have a voice in this matter.  In the past, questions about public policy regarding securities markets have usually been decided by government regulators and self-regulatory organizations with input from the public. This is a critical issue for public policy and therefore deserves due process. As things are now, we are in the dark on the details of far reaching changes that will affect us, and we have no practical way to express our concerns with, or our support for, any solutions that you may be considering.  We are asking you to consider adopting some system that would fully disclose your proposed solutions and allow for public comment, similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Labor rulemaking procedures. 

Very truly yours,

CC:
The Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary, Department of Labor
Richard Grasso, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange
Harvey Lloyd Pitt, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission

BCC:
The Honorable Ann Combs, Assistant Secretary Pension & Welfare Benefits Administration, Department of Labor