The Washington Post
is reporting that Pitt, currently chief executive of
Washington-based consulting firm Kalorama Partners, has teamed up with
John Tabacco, chief executive of LocateStock.com, and Tom Ronk, the
chief executive of Buyins.net, to launch web-based RegSHO.com, which promises to keep investors on the right side of short selling rules.
The
site will help match borrowers and lenders with stock, provide its
subscribers with alerts to compliance problems and also offer
solutions, with guidance and consultation from Pitt via the site, all
for a monthly fee of $995 for standard access and an additional
per-share fee for stock locates.
Not a bad
idea considering that the SEC is in the midst of deciding whether to
write new rules born out of a recent emergency order requiring that
short sellers "pre-borrow" or have in their possession the shares of a
select group of 19 financial stocks before shorting them. Do they know
something we don't?
And, while it's not
entirely clear whether the SEC's emergency order was helpful in keeping
the market slide in check, under the SEC's current regulations, those
who short stock must locate the shares and have them delivered within 3
days. Tighter enforcement of the current rules will surely have market
participants clicking their way to RegSHO.com's website. - Donna Block
