By Yali N’Diaye
WASHINTON (MNI) – Starting in June, the Securities and Exchange
Commission will finally have a chief economist, the agency announced
Friday, filling a key position that had been left empty since March
2010.
Craig Lewis, “the Madison S. Wigginton Professor of Finance at
Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, is currently
a visiting scholar at the SEC and will assume his new role next month,”
the Commission said in a statement.
A spokesman confirmed to Market News International that Lewis will
report directly to Chairman Mary Schapiro, as opposed to someone lower
down the hierarchy, which, according to reports, had been contemplated
for his successor.
“I am honored that Chairman Schapiro has offered me the opportunity
to lead the Division and the SEC’s economists at this critical
juncture,” Lewis said in the statement.
It is a critical juncture indeed. The agency is in the midst of
implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, including crafting new rules and
conducting studies. The absence of a chief economist has been perceived
by some observers as slowing the process, especially as regulators have
been paying a particular attention to “unintended consequences” of their
rules, which requires a thorough economic analysis.
The Office of Economic Analysis is part of the SEC’s new Division
of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation that was created in
September 2009.
On March 9, 2010, the SEC announced the departure of then Chief
Economist James Overdahl, effective March 31, 2010, leaving the position
vacant for 14 months.
Overdahl, who had occupied the position since July 2007, went to
join the economic consulting firm National Economic Research Associates
(NERA), which ironically mostly represents high-frequency traders that
are one focus of the SEC as it looks for the best way to tighten
regulation in high-frequency trading.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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