For someone responsible for ensuring compliance across the entire US capital market, new SEC chairman Christopher Cox has a surprisingly daring sense of humour.

Speaking for the first time as the boss of the great white shark of the regulation world, Cox seemed unfazed by the history of corporate failure that has preceded him.

Commenting on widespread speculation about whether the SEC would be ‘investor friendly’ or ‘business friendly’ under his leadership, Cox said: ‘Such predictions, while part of the territory, often have as much factual basis as a WorldCom prospectus.’

TS wonders whether Cox will still be joking about accounting scandals so casually after his first few months of enforcing Sarbanes-Oxley?