The Investors’ Working Group (IWG) is an independent, nonpartisan commission co-sponsored by the Council and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity to recommend ways to improve the regulation of U.S. financial markets. The Council and the CFA Institute Centre announced the formation of the IWG on February 11, 2009.
This diverse, blue-ribbon panel of experts was established to ensure that investor views are heard in the debate about how to modernize the financial regulatory system. The Council joined forces with CFA Institute to launch the IWG out of a belief that the national discussion about regulatory reform had largely ignored investor considerations, focusing instead on containing costs for issuers and dealers in the U.S. capital markets. The tenor of debate shifted somewhat with the Obama administration's June 17, 2009 release of its plan for financial regulatory reform (view it here). The IWG viewed the administration plan as a good start but believed it did not go far enough to protect investors
The IWG released its report and recommendations , "U.S. Financial Regulatory Reform: The Investors' Perspective," on July 15. The report calls on Congress and the administration to strengthen and reinvigorate existing regulatory agencies, close gaps in regulation, improve corporate governance of U.S. public companies and create a federal systemic risk oversight board. "The Investors' Working Group report is a pragmatic roadmap to restoring trust in U.S. financial markets in ways that safeguard the needs of investors," said Joseph A. Dear, the Council's chair and a member of the IWG. The Council of Institutional Investors has endorsed the IWG report.
For further information about the Investors' Working Group, please contact Jeff Mahoney, CII general counsel, at jeff@cii.org
IWG News & Publications
The IWG co-chairs and members representing sponsoring organizations CII and the CFA Centre are listed below.
William H. Donaldson, CFA, is co-chair of the Investors’ Working Group. He served as the 27th chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from February 2003 to June 2005. He is chairman of Donaldson Enterprises, a private investment firm, and was appointed to President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Prior to his tenure at the SEC, Donaldson was chair, president and CEO of Aetna, and he served as chair and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier in his career, he was the co-founder, chair,and CEO of the investment banking firm of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He has been a director of 14 publicly held corporations and a number of privately held businesses. He has served as chair of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and on the boards of numerous philanthropic, art, and educational institutions, among them the Ford Foundation, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Yale University.
Arthur Levitt Jr. is co-chair of the Investors’ Working Group. He served two terms as the 25th chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission beginning in July 1993. He left the commission in February 2001. Levitt created the Office of Investor Education and Assistance and established a Web site (www.sec.gov) that allows public access to corporate filings and investor education materials. Prior to joining the commission, Levitt owned Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. From 1989 to 1993, he chaired the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Previously, he was chairman of the American Stock Exchange after working for 16 years on Wall Street. He is senior advisor to The Carlyle Group, Promontory Financial Group and WisdomTree. Levitt also serves on the boards of Bloomberg and RiskMetrics Group, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Joseph Dear is the Council's representative on the IWG. He is CIO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS). Dear oversees all asset classes in which CalPERS invests. He is responsible for the strategic plan for the CalPERS Investment Office, including tactical asset allocation, risk management, business development, budget authority, new investment programs, trading technology, staffing and back office operations. Dear joined CalPERS in March 2009 after previously serving as the executive director for the Washington State Investment Board. Before that, he was chief of staff for Washington State Governor Gary Locke. Dear was assistant secretary of labor at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration. He currently is chair of the Council of Institutional Investors. .
Kurt Schacht, CFA, is the CFA Centre's representative on the IWG. He is managing director of the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity. He is responsible for all aspects of the Centre’s efforts to develop, promulgate and maintain the highest ethical standards for the investment community including CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct, Global Investment Performance Standards, CFA Institute Research Objectivity Standard and CFA Institute Soft Dollar Standards. He directs the Centre’s efforts to represent the views of investment professionals to standard setters, regulatory authorities and legislative bodies worldwide on issues that affect the practice of financial analysis and investment management, education, and licensing requirements for investment professionals and the efficiency of global financial markets. Prieviously, Schacht worked in investment management, serving as COO for a retail mutual complex, general counsel and COO for a hedge fund and chief legal officer for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.