On March 4, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the “Commission”) proposed amendments to Regulation S-P, which governs the privacy of consumer financial

information in the securities industry, in an effort to prevent and address information security breaches in the industry and better protect investor information.

Regulation S-P was adopted by the SEC on June 29, 2000 to implement certain privacy rules of the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) and consumer protection rules of the Fair Credit

Reporting Act (FCRA), which apply to entities regulated by the Commission such as brokers, dealers, investment advisers registered with the SEC, and investment companies. The proposed revisions will change Regulation S-P in four principal ways:

. by requiring more specific standards for safeguarding personal information and responding to data security breaches under Rule 30(a) of Regulation S-P (the “safeguards rule”);

. by expanding the scope of the information covered by the safeguards rule and Rule 30(b) of Regulation S-P (the “disposal rule”) and broadening the types of entities and persons covered by the safeguards and disposal rules;

. by requiring entities subject to the safeguards and disposal rules to maintain written records of their policies and procedures and their compliance with such policies and procedures;

and

. by creating a new exception from Regulation S-P’s notice and opt-out requirements to permit limited disclosure of investor information when certain kinds of personnel move from one brokerage or advisory firm to another.

See Advisory for more specific information.