WASHINGTON — Budget constraints are hampering the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission to enforce U.S. securities laws, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said Friday in her bluntest remarks yet on the resource strain facing the agency.
Schapiro, speaking at a legal seminar, said the budget strain is forcing market analysts to use decades-old technology to “monitor trading that occurs at the speed of light.”
She also suggested that data-management systems and a digital forensics lab would be on the chopping block unless Congress acts to increase the agency’s budget.
The SEC was tasked with wider responsibilities by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, but Congress hasn’t increased the agency’s budget.
Key House Republicans have voiced skepticism the SEC requires any funding increase. Dow Jones Newswires
