On Friday, Sept. 19,  the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting in concert with the U.K. Financial Services Authority, took temporary emergency action  to prohibit short selling in financial companies to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence. According to announcements posted on www.sec.gov, the SEC's action halts short selling in 799 financial institutions. The SEC’s emergency order was effective immediately upon its release and will terminate at 11:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 2, 2008. The announcements further state that the Commission may extend the order beyond 10 business days if it deems an extension necessary in the public interest and for the protection of investors, but will not extend the order for more than 30 calendar days in total duration.

The SEC also announced an order requiring institutional money managers to report new short sales on a brand new Form SH on Monday, September 29.

For the full text of all documentation related to the SEC's actions, including an example of and instructions for the new Form SH, please see: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-217.htm  and  http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-211.htm.

CT will release an upgrade of EDGAR Ease+ containing programming supporting the new Form SH as soon as possible following the SEC's release of its official XFDL specification or ELink subtemplate.  Users will be notified by email and by AutoUpdate alerts built into their EE+ software when this upgrade is available for download on www.edgarease.com. 

Please watch for further announcements by email and on www.edgarease.com regarding Form SH.  You are also welcome to direct your inquiries to info@edgarease.com. 

Thank you for your business and for your continued support of CT EDGAR Solutions!