The US Senate has confirmed Mary Jo White as the new head of the SEC, putting the former Wall Street lawyer in charge of the country’s chief securities regulator at a time of increasing concern about high-frequency trading (HFT) and amid implementation of Dodd-Frank legislation to overhaul the financial sector.
In a show of bipartisan support, the Senate confirmed White, 65, by unanimous consent. She will become the third Democrat-appointed member of the five-member commission, and could start as the new head of the SEC as early as tomorrow, when the commission holds its next meeting.
‘The SEC needs a strong leader in place as it works to implement Wall Street reform, and that is exactly what the commission is getting with Mary Jo White,’ says Tim Johnson, chairman of the Senate’s banking committee, in a press statement. ‘After meeting her, listening to her testimony and closely reviewing her qualifications, it came as no surprise that she received such overwhelming bipartisan support for her confirmation.’
White, who replaces Mary Schapiro after her resignation late last year, has worked both as a federal prosecutor tackling terrorists and crime bosses, and, more recently, as a lawyer for Debevoise & Plimpton, the law firm that represents high-profile Wall Street clients including JPMorgan, UBS, Deloitte & Touche. The latter role became a focus for criticism against her during the confirmation process, with critics arguing that she could suffer conflicts of interest by serving as the chief regulator of an industry where she once represented key players.
Despite this, White was approved by the Senate banking committee last month, with 21 votes in favor and only one – from Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown – against, passing her on to yesterday’s full Senate vote.
Among White’s first tasks is continued implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, in particular the remaining legislation governing credit rating agencies and over-the-counter derivatives. She will also be tasked with finalizing implementation of the JOBS Act, which eases some securities regulations to encourage capital raising by small businesses.
White will also be in charge of continuing the SEC’s scrutiny of HFT. Last month, the SEC proposed a series of rules that would oblige exchanges, clearing agencies and alternative trading systems to establish procedures to ensure the ‘capacity, integrity, resilience and security’ of their technology, allow SEC inspections to ensure compliance, notify the SEC whenever systems issues occur and conduct annual reviews of their systems.
