Already under fire for its regulatory performance during the financial crisis, the reputation of the SEC is now in tatters after it failed to uncover the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
"You have a whole culture over there that needs to be changed, let Obama pick the commissioners," said Sherman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, in an interview on
CNBC. Sherman said he didn't know much about Obama's pick to head the agency, Mary Schapiro, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, but they were "also asleep at the switch." Finra is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the U.S.
Sherman also said there should be some type of "regulation" put in place prohibiting SEC staff members from taking high paying Wall Street jobs for a specific period of time after leaving the agency.
And, while Sherman said he's uncertain whether a "super regulator" is the answer to the nation's financial regulatory problems, he is of the opinion that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission should be combined with the SEC. "When you allow companies to choose a regulator it's a race to the bottom," he said.
- Donna Block
Comments
As the first of what promises to be one of many congressional hearings into the alleged $50 billion Bernard Madoff scandal in Washington, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., called for the Securities and Exchange Commission commissioners to tender their resignations.
"Sherman also said there should be some type of "regulation" put in place prohibiting SEC staff members from taking high paying Wall Street jobs for a specific period of time after leaving the agency."
Isn't this posturing tedious? What's that about pointing fingers, and having several pointed back at you? How much better off would this country be if elected folk did not get paybacks?