The Rocky Mountain Securities Conference and Reconfiguring a Regional Office at the SEC

With all of the talk about the reforms in the Division of Enforcement, particularly the creation of five speciality units, we thought it would be interesting to hear the specifics that came out at the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference.

The five new units include:  Asset Management, Market Abuse, Structured & New Products, Foreign Corrupt Practices and Muni Securities and Public Pensions.  Staff (there are Unit Chiefs, Deputies,  assistant directors and staff attorneys in each specialty unit) has been culled from all of the SEC’s offices, not just those in Washington.

At the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference, Julie Lutz, the Associate Regional Director with the Division of Enforcement in the Denver Regional Office described logistically the effect of the five new specialty units on the SEC’s regional office in Denver.  As with all SEC offices, Denver was reorganized to eliminate branch chiefs, a step now complete.  The number of assistant regional directors in the office increased from three to five.  Two of assistants have become part of specialty units:  Market Abuse (under Jay Scoggins) and Structured Products (under Laura Metcalfe).  According to Ms. Lutz, approximately 25% of the office staff will be involved in these units, consistent with the agency wide percentage.  Specialized training in the units has already begun and includes members of the trial team.