SEC Chair Expects Commission To "Hit The Ground Running"

By Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service

With the signing of the Dodd-Frank reform bill last week, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Schapiro said Tuesday that massive reforms on Wall Street will soon start to take affect. Schapiro said the commission will “hit the ground running” as it prepares to tackle close to 100 new regulatory rules.

Schapiro said that the commission plans to move forward by incorporating the input of the public and by ensuring transparency is established.

“The idea is to offer maximum opportunity for public comment and to provide greater transparency,” said Schapiro.

The SEC Chair said interested parties will be able to offer their ideas on financial regulatory laws through emails, comments and scheduled meetings with the SEC staff. 

“We are determined to do this right,” said Schapiro.

Schapiro said the SEC plans to work on provisions including broker-dealer standards, transparency of corporate financial information and ensuring hedge fund advisers are registered with the commission.  The SEC Chair said this would ultimately allow the commission to track the private funds these professionals advise. 

Schapiro also said the agency is “energized” and prepared to implement provisions of the new financial regulatory bill, but has also asked Congress for approximately 800 more staffers to take on the job.

“Our goal is a high quality regulatory regime in the United States,” said Schapiro. “We do expect that we can show leadership in a lot of these areas.”