Senator Charles Schumer (D., NY) advocates the notion that if the Securities and Exchange Commission retained the fees it collects from financial institutions to fund itself, the agency’s resources would increase: in some years, the SEC has taken in almost twice the regulatory fees as the congressional-appropriations process has provided it in funding.
Mr. Schumer cites the fact that the SEC’s budget has remained essentially flat in recent years despite the continued growth of the complexity and size of financial markets. Critics of the self-funding provision say that it could cause the agency to go unmonitored.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro agrees with Schumer, last week asking Congress for the SEC’s right to retain its regulatory fees in order to help the agency hire the experts it needs to deal with emerging market trends. The SEC has recently come under fire for its years-long failure to detect convicted Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff’s crimes—Schapiro made the point that addressing “the SEC’s chronic under-funding” could help it attract and retain experience personnel who could uncover that kind of wrongdoing in the future.
Other independent agencies, such as the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., fund themselves from fees collected from the industries they oversee.
About EQUITIES:
Since 1951, EQUITIES Magazine has been a leading media company providing business editorial content designed to serve the needs of business leaders, professionals, institutional investors and retail investors. We are focused on business and the business of making money, not on lifestyle subjects. We publish original reporting in print and on our website, as well as select content at www.nasdaq.com. For 28 years we have hosted our own branded investor conferences that connect public company CEO’s with our loyal readers in the investment community.
Sign up for a free one-year subscription to EQUITIES Magazine.
