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New SEC Chief Moves Fast to Restore Agency

Schapiro fills openings, reverses Bush policies at battered regulator

By Clay Dillow, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 23, 2009 9:50 AM CST

(Newser) – New chairwoman Mary Schapiro isn’t wasting time making over the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Times reports, reversing several of her predecessor’s policies and filling key positions that have sat vacant for months. “I recognize that we could all be defined by what we missed rather than what we find,” she said. “That’s why I’m intensely impatient about addressing these issues.”

The SEC’s ineffectiveness has been criticized in recent months, as problems at large institutions and scandals like Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme went undetected. Schapiro is working to minimize conflicts of interest at credit-rating agencies, exploring restrictions on the short-selling of stocks in decline, and consulting law enforcement for strategies to help her sift through the 700,000 tips the agency receives annually.

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SEC Chair-designate Mary Schapiro testifies on Jan. 15, 2009, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on her nomination. (AP Photo)

Barack Obama introduces Mary Schapiro as his designate for Securities and Exchange Commission chairman during a news conference in Chicago, Dec. 18, 2008. (AP Photo)

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This agency did not pursue some critical issues and problems. We need to be transparent about what we missed. We need to learn from these tragedies.
- Mary L. Schapiro, Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 4 comments

Caps

Feb 24, 2009 5:48 AM CST

I agree. flag old Coronoa-King under a different name, Beer-King All he does is spew hot-air.

Guest

Feb 24, 2009 12:07 AM CST

This is not spam, so I'm not going to flag it, but I'm getting tired of reading Beer_King's "P-BO". He didn't even say anything here. It's just noise . . . Maybe it should be flagged for such . . .

Guest

Feb 23, 2009 5:55 AM CST

It would be nice if P-BO's people stopped jaw boning us to death and actually started to do something novel, like actually govern. Everytime one of them opens thier yap, the market drops another 50 points and another 50,000 people lose thier jobs!

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Politics • Money

SEC • Christopher Cox • SEC commissioners • short selling • Obama administration • Bernard Madoff • Mary Schapiro • Securities and Exchange Commission

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New SEC Chief Moves Fast to Restore Agency