The US Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to propose amendments designed to ensure better protection of client privacy.

The SEC says that to help prevent and address security breaches at the institutions the commission regulates, the proposed amendments would provide more detailed standards for information security programs. The amendments also would provide a new exception to permit the disclosure of limited personal information when representatives move from one broker-dealer or registered investment adviser to another; and, they would provide more specific requirements for safeguarding information and responding to information security breaches.

“Today’s proposal should help guard against growing problems such as identity theft and intrusions into online brokerage accounts,” said Erik Sirri, director of the SEC’s division of trading and markets. “It also includes a pragmatic exception that would continue to protect information while providing an orderly mechanism for departing representatives to take limited customer information to their new firms. This should help give firms flexibility while facilitating the transfer of accounts, promoting investor choice, and providing firms with legal certainty.”

As well today, the Commission voted unanimously to propose two new rules to permit exchange-traded funds to operate without having to first obtain individual exemptive orders from the commission.

“The proposed rules would increase investor choice by eliminating a barrier to entry for new participants in this fast-growing market, while preserving investor protections,” said Andrew Donohue, director of the SEC’s division of investment management. “Permitting most ETFs to come directly to market without the cost and delay of obtaining an exemptive order would also allow staff to focus on more novel and difficult requests.”

Specifically, the commission voted to propose: a rule to codify most of the exemptions previously granted by the commission to index-based ETFs and to transparent actively managed ETFs; a rule that would allow investment companies to make larger investments in ETFs than currently permitted, which limits one investment company to acquiring no more than 3% of another investment company’s shares; and, amendments that are designed to provide key information to investors who purchase ETF shares in secondary market transactions.