The chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., is looking into the personnel policies of the SEC’s enforcement staff.
After the agency’s inspector general pinned the SEC’s failure to detect the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme on enforcement personnel, Towns sent a letter to SEC chairman Mary Shapiro requesting information about their experience and capacity to carry out their duties.
According to the IG, SEC staff did not have the experience or knowledge necessary in equity and options trading to properly investigate the leads it received on Madoff’s operation.
"This report highlights Congress’ longstanding concern that federal financial regulators need more experienced and sophisticated professionals to police Wall Street,” Towns said.
The letter says the committee plans to hold hearings on SEC personnel policies in the near future and asks what effect special pay authority granted in 2002 has had on the retention of experienced employees.
The letter also asks what level of experience the SEC’s enforcement staff holds, and whether it has increased or decreased since 2002 and what the role of senior managers is in supervising cases.
