Finra hires big gun to lobby for advisor biz SRO

Michael Oxley, the former congressman who co-wrote the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, has registered as a lobbyist for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to promote self-regulation of investment advisers. Oxley, a partner at Baker Hostetler LLP in Washington, registered this week as a Finra lobbyist, saying he would work on securities regulation and the “harmonization of regulation of broker-dealers and investment advisers,” according to his registration form. Finra oversees about 4,560 brokerage firms and is interested in expanding to investment advisers. Finra contends the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should use a self-regulatory organization, or SRO, to take over examinations of investment advisers from the agency. A January SEC study -- mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act's regulatory overhaul -- suggested using SROs as an option to increase adviser oversight. Congress hasn't yet authorized the SEC to make a rule. Oxley, 67, an Ohio Republican who was chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is also a senior board adviser at NASDAQ OMX Group Inc., didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. His March 15 lobbyist registration included his former communications director on Capitol Hill, Peggy Peterson, who also works at Baker. Nancy Condon, a Finra spokeswoman, said the regulator had no comment on Oxley's hire. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in the wake of the Enron accounting scandal, was designed to protect investors from fraudulent corporate accounting. --Bloomberg News--