Today Barack Obama appointed two figures that will be instrumental in how current financial regulatory struggles play out. Mary Schapiro was named head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Gary Gensler will lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Both, Schapiro especially, are hardly new to the regulatory scene. Gensler worked at Treasury during the Clinton administration and worked as an adviser to former Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Sarbanes-Oxley fame. Schapiro, currently head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has served as SEC commissioner and was chairman of the CFTC in the mid-1990s.
Schapiro has a momentous task ahead of her, since calling the SEC troubled would be a bit of an understatement at this point. This New York Times column asks whether she can save the SEC, and also ponders whether her appointment makes it more likely that the SEC and CFTC will merge.
What do you think of the appointments? Let us know in the comments below.
