Mary Schapiro,Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,appeared before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission recently in Washington,D.C.She said she has spent a year taking the SEC apart,trying to understand where its strengths and weaknesses lay.It's quite an independent agency,but is subject to congressional appropriations,while other regulators are self-funded.It's critically important that we continue to have independent standard-setters for accounting;it's particularly important for the profession to remember that the investor is their audience at the end of the day,the soft-spoken Ms.Schapiro observed.
Mary Schapiro was herself an SEC commissioner 20 years ago.As a general matter,I am a huge fan of transparency across the board,she declared.The amount of data to sift through is overwhelming.For us,it's a matter of acquiring new technology,reviewing millions and millions of trades.Our tech budget is 50% below what it was five years ago.I'm concerned about over the counter derivatives markets,their ability to do what is not permissible in regulated markets,Ms.Schapiro added.
The SEC,which has five commissioners,has voted to approve the reining in of computer systems that certain financial firms use to trade huge amounts of shares at high speed.The SEC is concerned this practice may distort market activity and give these firms a leg up on other participants.The commission has also begun an inquiry into the impact of technology on financial markets generally.
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