Mary Jo White, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, intends to step down from her current role by the end of President Barack Obama’s administration after a more than three-year stint with the agency.
SEC said Monday that White helped the commission boost protections for both investors and the markets through transformative rulemakings designed to address issues on the financial crisis as well as foster accountability and record actions through data analytics technology.
“My duty has been to ensure that the Commission implemented strong investor and market protections, and to establish an enduring foundation for future progress in the most critical areas – asset management regulation, equity market structure and disclosure effectiveness,” said White.
“It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside the incredibly talented and dedicated SEC staff members who do so much every day to protect investors and our markets.”
Under White’s leadership, the SEC also implemented reforms to the money market fund industry, safeguards for the financial system, modernized rules of practice for conducting administrative proceedings, post-crisis restrictions on proprietary trading and investments.
She also helped the commission expand its examination program which led to the utilization of new quantitative techniques to detect misconduct as well as an increase in staff members by approximately 20 percent.
