In case you hadn’t noticed the flood of announcements of investigations and enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission this summer, here’s a confirmation of the SEC’s emphasis on consumer protection, relative to the previous administration’s.
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday announced the appointment of Barbara Roper, currently the Director of Investor Protection for the non-profit Consumer Federation of America (CFA), as senior advisor to the chair, Gary Gensler.
Roper will focus on issues relating to retail investor protection, including matters relating to policy, broker-dealer oversight, investment adviser oversight, and examinations, an SEC release said.
Roper “will provide invaluable counsel on behalf of the American public,” Gensler said in the release. “I worked closely with her on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the critical market reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act.”
“I’ve dedicated my career to ensuring that our capital markets work for the average investor,” Roper said. “I’ll bring the same focus to my work for the SEC.” She has served on numerous advisory committees at the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other entities. She is a graduate of Princeton University.
During 35 years at the CFA, Roper has conducted studies of the financial planning industry, state oversight of investment advisers, and state and federal financial planning regulation. She has also conducted studies on the need for audit reform in the wake of the Enron scandal, the need for mutual fund reform in the wake of trading and sales abuse scandals, the information preferences of mutual fund shareholders, the potential of the Internet to improve disclosure, and securities law weaknesses as a cause of the financial crisis.
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