Harvard Law Record – Reeling from the fallout of the Madoff scandal, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been searching for a new strategy and new leadership in its mission to protect the investing public from fraud.
As part of this effort, the S.E.C. recently unveiled six new organizational departments that will lead units aimed at supervising particular domains of finance: asset management, market abuse, structured and new products, foreign corrupt practices, and municipal securities and public pensions. These changes come with a public recognition that in the rapidly changing world of modern finance the Commission must be constantly vigilant to keep pace with innovation in the markets, as well as a keen awareness that in the wake of the Madoff fiasco the public and Congress are demanding swift action to improve the quality of financial industry oversight.