FRM Committee Meets Tuesday

With yet another state investigation being launched into what is believed to be the largest “Ponzi” scheme in state history, the legislative committee charged with reviewing New Hampshire’s securities and investments regulations will meet again this Tuesday, Oct. 12.

Formed in April, the Joint Legislative Committee to Review the State’s Regulatory Oversight of Financial Resources Mortgage has held seven meetings since May 7. It released an 84-page draft report on Aug. 31.

The committee had been charged to report on various issues, including:

• Determining whether current regulations somehow got in the way of state agencies cooperating in their oversight of FRM.
• Making recommendations to modernize and strengthen the state‘s regulatory structures to better protect investors in the future.
• Recommending a timeframe for adopting any needed reforms.

The draft report calls for a centralized consumer complaint database and recommends clearing up confusion over how the state’s regulatory bodies—the Securities Bureau, Banking Department or Attorney General’s Office—share responsibility for oversight and enforcement and how they communicate with one another about their work.

The draft report cites numerous “organizational failures” that allowed FRM, a Meredith-based commercial mortgage broker and lender, to escape oversight. According to federal civil and criminal complaints, FRM allegedly defrauded a number of investors for amounts ranging from $20 million to $80 million.

“Our charge was to look at state law and oversight to determine what reforms are needed to protect investors in the future,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-Exeter) is co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee. She underscored the urgency of finalizing their recommendations in time for new laws to be considered during the next legislative session, which starts in January.

According to the committee website, it will “discuss the written comments it has received on its draft report” at Tuesday’s meeting. No time has been set aside for public testimony, though the committee has indicated it will consider taking public comment “at the end of its meeting if the committee believes this would be helpful for completion of the report.”

Last Tuesday, Secretary of State Bill Gardner announced his office would also conduct its own FRM investigation.

>> The Joint Legislative Committee to Review the State’s Regulatory Oversight of Financial Resources Mortgage will meet in Concord at the Legislative Office Building, Rooms 205-207, Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 10 a.m..

>> Find out more about the committee at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/joint.

Posted by Hilary Niles on Oct 9 2010. Filed under agencies & departments, banking & lending, Commerce, Government, Justice, Money, securities & investments, Weekly Briefing, white collar crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry