The Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appointed the newest members of its national leadership team as the division undertakes its most significant reorganization since its establishment in 1972.
The division named leaders of national specialized units. The SEC established these units in five priority areas that are highly specialized and complex areas of securities law.
One of the specialized units created was the structured and new products group, which will be led by Kenneth R. Lench and will focus on complex derivatives and financial products, such as credit default swaps, CDOs and securitized products.
At a press conference earlier today about the new SEC enforcement proposals, Lench said he was pleased to have been chosen as the unit's head. "Recent events have underscored the need to understand complex products as they are introduced to marketplace." He added that , "like a cop walking the beat," industry participants should know the market place and must futher develop expertise on products that already exist.
Lench was assistant director, branch chief, assistant chief counsel, and senior counsel/staff attorney with the SEC's Division of Enforcement. Previously, he was a senior attorney with the SEC's division of corporation finance, and an associate with Sills Cummis P.C. in Newark, N.J.
The structured and new products unit deputy chief is Reid A. Muoio, who has been an assistant director, branch chief, and staff attorney with the SEC's division of enforcement. Prior to this, Muoio was an associate with Hughes Hubbard & Reed in New York.
The other specialized units created by the SEC are: asset management; market abuse; foreign corrupt practices; and municipal securities and public pensions.
The division also created an office of market intelligence that is responsible for the collection, analysis, and monitoring of the hundreds of thousands of tips, complaints, and referrals that the SEC receives each year.
These units and the new office will offer the added structure, resources, and expertise needed for enforcement staff to keep pace with changing markets. This will also help them more comprehensively investigate cases that involve complex products, markets, regulatory regimes, practices and transactions, said an SEC release on these new enforcement proposals.
The new office of market intelligence will be led by Thomas A. Sporkin. Sporkin assumes this new position after being deputy chief in the office of internet enforcement at the SEC since 2001. Previously, he was senior counsel and staff attorney in the SEC's division of enforcement.
