Given some of the recent actions by the SEC, it’s reasonable to ask if the regulator may be enforcing a kind of “broken windows policing” effort. When put into practice, the broken windows theory as applied to non-Wall Street crime by police officers involves acting upon “small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking, and toll-jumping,”… Read More >>
SEC to Ease Up on Key Internal Court Burdens
Should the cop on the beat be able to appoint the judges who hear the case against the defendants that get hauled in? That, essentially, is the central criticism of the SEC’s system of internal administrative law judges and its various rules and procedures that allegedly disadvantage defendants. Now, the SEC has responded to the… Read More >>
Elizabeth Warren Blasts SEC Chair’s Performance
Outspoken Wall Street critic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is blasting SEC Chair Mary Jo White and the regulator’s record over the past two years in a letter that raises “serious concerns” about White’s leadership of the agency. Describing White’s tenure as “extremely disappointing,” Warren says that the agency is not “consistently and aggressively” enforcing… Read More >>
SEC Seeks to Revamp Reporting for Mutual Funds, ETFs
The SEC has proposed rules, forms and amendments to “modernize and enhance” the reporting and disclosure of information via investment companies and investment advisers in an effort to improve the quality of data for investors, according to the regulator. If approved, the effort will also let SEC officials more “effectively collect and use data” that… Read More >>
SEC Hit with High-Profile Departures
SEC Chair Mary Jo White will be losing her chief of staff at the end of June, the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the regulator. Lona Nallengara, who has served as White’s chief of staff for the past two years, recently announced his intention to leave the agency. He was responsible for… Read More >>
SEC Approves Pilot Project for New Tick Sizes
The SEC has approved a proposal by national securities exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for a two-year pilot program that will test the waters on implementing tick size regulations for some stocks, officials say. In a nutshell, the program will widen the minimum quoting and trading increments – also known as tick… Read More >>
SEC’s Head of Examinations to Leave
Andrew “Drew” Bowden, the director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), will step down by the end of this month and will return to the private sector, according to the SEC. Bowden’s time with the SEC began in November 2011 when he joined the regulator to serve as OCIE’s National Associate for… Read More >>
SEC Municipal Securities Director to Leave
The SEC reports that John J. Cross III, who, since 2012 served as the first director of the office of municipal securities, will leave the agency in November. Cross is “expected to rejoin the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department,” according to the SEC. The office of municipal securities was established under… Read More >>
SEC Atlanta’s Dignam to Be OCIE Senior Counsel
The SEC reports that Rhea Kemble Dignam, currently director of the SEC’s Atlanta regional office (ARO), has been named senior counsel to the director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). Dignam, who joined the SEC as the Atlanta regional office director in March 2010, will assume her new post when Liban… Read More >>
SEC’s New Sheriff vs. the D.C. Corral
Mary Jo White’s SEC appears to be taking decisive action against the alleged, undeclared insider trading and controversial influence peddling that Congress has taken for granted for decades. This became abundantly clear when the regulator set its sights on 44 firms that allegedly benefited from Washington, D.C.-based insider trading. Over the coming weeks and months,… Read More >>
