SHAD SEES PROGRESS ON INSIDER TRADING Securities and Exchange Commission chairman John Shad said progress was being made in stopping insider trading, but the chairman of a House subcommittee with jurisdiction over securities laws said he was concerned about conditions on Wall Street. "Greed has created a feeding frenzy on Wall Street and in the process laws are broken and multi-billion dlr corporations have become easy prey," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass, the chairman of the Telecommunications and Finance said at the start of a hearing on SEC activities. "Congress is understandably nervous. We perceive the current scandals as a warning of even worse things to come," Markey said. "The frenzy and disruption created by merger mania is particularly distressing." Shad said the recent cases involving Ivan Boesky, Dennis Levine and others was a warning that those who engage in insider trading were taking a heavy risk of imprisonment, high fines and disbarment from the securities industry. "Insider trading has not been eradicated, but it has been inhibited and multimillions of dollars of profits that Boesky and others have been siphoning off the markets are now flowing through to legitimate investors and traders," Shad said in his statement. Shad said insider trading cases involved only 10 pct or less of SEC enforcement actions in recent years but they have increased significantly to 125 cases brought during the past five years compared to 77 cases in the preceeding 47 years. Markey said he did not favor banning takeovers but thought the tender offer process needed reform including earlier disclosure of takeover attempts. N.J. Rep. Mathew Rinaldo, the senior subcommittee Republican, said he was introducing legislation to create a five member commission to study the securities industry for a year and report its findings and recommendations to Congress. Commission members would be appointed by the SEC. "Its primary mission would be to analyze the extent of illegal trading on insider trading and to assess the adequacy of existing surveillance systems and government oversight operations. The commission would advise Congress as to what additional resources or civil or criminal remedies are needed to combat fraud and improve compliance with federal laws," Rinaldo said.