Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange mission today announced the agenda for Wednesday roundtable on providing more transparency to investors that will include discussion of lessons from the current credit crisis. Among other issues, panelists will address better ways to explain mplex financial instruments to investors and the marketplace, and will propose ways to provide investors with more transparent, useful, and timely aess to high-quality information.The roundtable is part of the SEC 21st Century Disclosure Initiative (/disclosureinitiative) that is fundamentally rethinking disclosure.

Panel one: the market’s use of disclosure information and the SEC’s disclosure system

This panel will explore whether the current system of llecting and filing data for SEC disclosure obligations has kept pace with the market. It will examine how investors can get all the information they need to make increasingly mplex investment decisions. It will also nsider the data, technology, and processes that mpanies and other filers use in satisfying their SEC disclosure obligations. The panel will mpare the needs and uses of investors and mpanies to the capabilities of the SEC disclosure system in an effort to better understand any gaps and inefficiencies that can lead to inauracies, delays, and unnecessary mplexity.

John Bajkowski, Vice President and Senior Financial Analyst, American Association of Individual Investors.

Robert Sorrentino, Director of Acunting Policy and External Reporting, Xerox rp.

David penhafer, former Director of EDGAR Services, Bowne and ., Inc.

Glenn Doggett, Policy Analyst, CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity .

Paul Haaga, Jr., Vice Chairman, Capital Research and Management .

Kara Jenny, Chief Financial Officer, Bluefly, Inc.

Timothy Thornton, Principal, Web Services, The Vanguard Group, Inc.

Panel two: modernizing the SEC’s disclosure system

This panel will nsider how the SEC uld better anize and operate its disclosure system so that investors uld have better aess to high-quality information and mpanies uld enjoy efficiencies. In particular, the panel will discuss ways to structure disclosure data so investors can more effectively search for mpany data and mpare investment options. The panel will describe a possible mpany file system, in which re mpany information would be llected in a central structured data file, and will also discuss other approaches that harness technology to better serve investors and the markets.

Alan Beller, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP

Steven Bochner, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati

Esther Dyson, Chairman, EDventure Holdings

Joseph Grundfest, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School

Eric Roiter, Lecturer on Law, Harvard University Law School and Boston University School of Law

Liv Watson, Member, Board of Directors, IRIS

Hillary Sale, Chair in rporate Finance and Law, University of Iowa llege of Law

Douglas Chia, Senior unsel and Assistant rporate Secretary, Johnson and Johnson

Moderators:

John White, Director of SEC’s Division of rporate Finance

Andrew Donohue, Director of SEC’s Division of Investment Management

Jim Kaput, unsel to 21st Century Disclosure Initiative

Matthew Reed, Assistant Director of 21st Century Disclosure Initiative

The SEC’s roundtable will be held on Wednesday, October 8 in the auditorium of the SEC’s Washington D.C. headquarters at 100 F Street, NE from 9 a.m. until approximately 1 p.m. The roundtable will be open to the public on a first-me, first-served basis. It will be webcast live on the SEC’s Web , and an archived version of the webcast will later be available for free download.

The mission welmes feedback regarding any of the ics to be addressed at the roundtable, and has issued a formal request for public mment. The mission is particularly interested in mments responding to these questions:

General issues

Should the mission make changes to its current forms-based disclosure system? Please explain why or why not.

What are the key issues to be nsidered in the review of the mission’s disclosure system? Are particular aspects of the system and process especially useful and well executed, and are particular aspects especially in need of improvement?

What are the purposes of issuer disclosure from the perspective of investors, filers, and regulators?

Specific issues

The market’s use of disclosure information

How do operating and investment mpanies llect, summarize, analyze, file, and disseminate the information that is submitted to the mission?

How do operating and investment mpanies submit disclosure and reporting information to the mission? How have these methods changed during the last 15 years, particularly after filing via EDGAR was fully implemented? How uld the mission’s system be changed to rce burdens and create efficiencies, nsistent with investor protection?

How do investors retrieve and use the disclosure information that mpanies submit to the mission? How uld this information be better presented, and more easily retrieved and used through technological improvements?

What disclosure information that mpanies submit to the mission is used by investors to make investment decisions? Is any information that mpanies submit to the mission not used? What information that is not required to be filed or furnished with the mission do investors and others use to make investment decisions or give investment advice?

The mission’s current disclosure system

Does the mission’s current disclosure system present difficulties? What difficulties can be attributed to technological problems? Which can be attributed to regulatory or statutory problems?

Modernizing the mission’s disclosure system

How should the mission’s disclosure system be modernized? One possibility is a mpany file system. What alternative systems should be nsidered? What different or additional benefits might these alternatives provide?

How should a modern disclosure system, such as a mpany file system, be anized, and how uld it improve the way disclosure information is submitted and used?

What features should any modernized disclosure system provide in order to serve the needs of filers, investors, regulators, and other users of information? Why?

Data tagging using XBRL, or eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is one way, but we understand there are other ways to structure data. What alternative ways uld be used by mpanies to submit structured data to the mission?

What are the sts and benefits to investors and other market participants of structuring non-financial disclosures, including, for example, data tagging?

What time frame would be appropriate for implementing a mpany file system?

What benefits and sts to preparers and users of information would acmpany the implementation of modernized disclosure system, such as a mpany file system, that requires all, or virtually all, data to be filed in a structured format? Would such a system be more useful to some investors, such as small or less sophisticated investors? Would some investors be harmed by such a system? Would larger mpanies benefit more than smaller mpanies? Would sts fall disproportionately on one group of mpanies?

Are any changes to the mission’s disclosure regulations required for a transition to a mpany file system? How uld these changes be identified?

The information that is submitted for mment will beme part of the public rerd of the roundtable. All submissions received will be posted without change. The SEC does not edit personal identifying information from submissions. Only information desired to be shared publicly should be submitted.