SEC Chairman to Testify to Senate Panel on Reserves

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt is to testify on loan-loss reserves Thursday before Senate Banking's securities subcommittee.

Mr. Levitt will be the lone witness. Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., requested his testimony in a June 28 letter to Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., the subcommittee chairman.

The SEC and bank regulators have fought a yearlong battle over the reserves issue. In the latest of three accords, which was unveiled July 12, the SEC agreed to consult with a bank's or thrift's primary regulator before challenging the institution's loan-loss reserves.

An amendment to the House's financial reform bill would require such consultations. In a July 22 letter to Senate Banking Chairman Phil Gramm, R-Tex., two senators - Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.- urged that this provision be added to the Senate version of the bill.

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