The Investor's Advocate:

How the SEC Protects Investors, Maintains Market Integrity, and Facilitates
Capital Formation

Introduction
The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect
investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate
capital formation.

As more and more first-time investors turn to the markets to help secure
their futures, pay for homes, and send children to college, our investor
protection mission is more compelling than ever.

As our nation's securities exchanges mature into global for-profit
competitors, there is even greater need for sound market regulation.

And the common interest of all Americans in a growing economy that produces
jobs, improves our standard of living, and protects the value of our savings
means that all of the SEC's actions must be taken with an eye toward
promoting the capital formation that is necessary to sustain economic
growth.

The world of investing is fascinating and complex, and it can be very
fruitful. But unlike the banking world, where deposits are guaranteed by the
federal government, stocks, bonds and other securities can lose value. There
are no guarantees. That's why investing is not a spectator sport. By far the
best way for investors to protect the money they put into the securities
markets is to do research and ask questions.

The laws and rules that govern the securities industry in the United States
derive from a simple and straightforward concept: all investors, whether
large institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain
basic facts about an investment prior to buying it, and so long as they hold
it.

To achieve this, the SEC requires public companies to disclose meaningful
financial and other information to the public. This provides a common pool
of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for themselves whether to
buy, sell, or hold a particular security. Only through the steady flow of
timely, comprehensive, and accurate information can people make sound
investment decisions.

The result of this information flow is a far more active, efficient, and
transparent capital market that facilitates the capital formation so
important to our nation's economy. To insure that this objective is always
being met, the SEC continually works with all major market participants,
including especially the investors in our securities markets, to listen to
their concerns and to learn from their experience.

The SEC oversees the key participants in the securities world, including
securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisors,
and mutual funds. Here the SEC is concerned primarily with promoting the
disclosure of important market-related information, maintaining fair
dealing, and protecting against fraud.

Crucial to the SEC's effectiveness in each of these areas is its enforcement
authority. Each year the SEC brings hundreds of civil enforcement actions
against individuals and companies for violation of the securities laws.
Typical infractions include insider trading, accounting fraud, and providing
false or misleading information about securities and the companies that
issue them.

One of the major sources of information on which the SEC relies to bring
enforcement action is investors themselves