Rominger: SEC has to become more efficient

Although the Securities and Exchange Commission has fared better than other agencies in obtaining funding increases from Congress, it has to improve its operations to stretch its budget further, according to an agency leader. “We simply need to become more efficient,” Eileen Rominger, director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, told an audience at the Investment Adviser Association compliance conference in Arlington, Va., on Thursday. “While certainly we have gotten a bit more in the way of resources, I don't think that's something that can be relied on year after year. We have to figure out ways of operating more effectively and efficiently.” Ms. Rominger spoke two days after SEC commissioner Mary Schapiro appeared before a House Appropriations subcommittee to support the agency's fiscal 2013 budget request, which would increase the SEC budget by $245 million to a total of $1.556 billion. For the current fiscal year, the SEC received a $136 million increase, which was $86 million less than the Obama administration requested but generally a victory in a Washington that is increasingly focused on reducing the yawning federal budget deficit. In appearances before Congress, Ms. Schapiro consistently argues that the breadth and complexity of the markets, products and firms the SEC oversees, combined with the mandates from the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, require that the agency receive significant funding increases. She also stresses that the SEC has achieved substantial internal-management reforms. The Division of Investment Management is improving its performance by more effectively using technology and by implementing knowledge management initiatives that are helping staff share information. It also has merged two rule-making offices and established a new approach to cost-benefit analysis that ensures that the potential impact of regulation is considered “at the very early stages of considering initiatives,” Ms. Rominger said. Another important step toward better operations is adding industry experts to the division staff, according to Ms. Rominger. Recent hires include an expert on exchange-traded funds and a financial analyst who specializes in complex investment products. The division is also adding examiners. “We have a number of exciting career opportunities currently available,” said Ms. Rominger, who joined the SEC last year after spending 29 years on Wall Street. She was most recently chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.