The Securities and Exchange Commission is using quantitative analysis tools to investigate public company insiders that are late in reporting their stock trades. The SEC said on Wednesdayy that it has charged 13 officers and directors of NYSE listed companies and 15 major shareholders (individuals with more than 5 percent of a public company's stock) with violating its reporting rules on insider trades. Among the firms cited are Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, which paid the SEC $120,000 to settle charges that it violated the agency's beneficial reporting rules, and Brown Brothers Harriman Co. The agency also charged six public companies that failed to name their insiders or filed public disclosure forms late. Thirty-three of the 34 defendants have agreed to pay the SEC $2.6 million to settle the charges. Andrew Ceresney, the SEC's enforcement director, said his team was using the so-called "quant" tools, based on computer algorithms, to identify companies or individuals
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