SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White insists her agency needs a budget increase in order to properly fulfill its regulatory mission. In her testimony before Congress on Wednesday, White cited the financial services industrys fast-growing pool of assets under management and the need for greater regulatory resources to ensure proper oversight.
Here's a look at her budget request by the numbers:
$1.722 Billion - The proposed FY2016 budget request for the SEC.
254% - The percentage increase of assets under management of SEC-registered investment advisers from fiscal year 2001 to the start of this fiscal year.
$62 Trillion - The total AUM of SEC-registered advisers from 2001 to now. In 2001, it was only $17.5 trillion.
$15.6 Trillion - AUM of mutual funds now. This grew by 143 percent from $6.4 trillion during 2001 to now.
$67 Trillion - Annual trading volume in the equity markets more than doubled from 2001 to now.
25,000 - The estimate of market participants overseen by the SEC. White says that this is includ[es] nearly 12,000 investment advisers, approximately 10,500 mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, nearly 4,500 broker-dealers, and about 450 transfer agents.
18 - The number of national securities exchanges overseen by the SEC. White added that the agency also oversees 10 credit rating agencies, and eight active registered clearing agencies, as well as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
431 - The number of new staffers the SEC would like to hire in 2016. These new hires break down, roughly, along these lines:
225 - New additional examiners who would, according to White, primarily conduct additional examinations of investment advisers.
14 - New positions for the Office of Information Technology (OIT), to better execute these and other technology initiatives, said White.
93 - The new positions requested for the SECs Division of Enforcement in three areas: Staff proficient in conducting intelligence processing and analysis; investigative staff to permit the agency to more swiftly and effectively identify and respond to the high volume of securities-related misconduct; and litigation staff to address the growing number of contested enforcement matters nationwide.
50 - The number of new positions in FY 2016 to reinforce the SECs investigative functions.
Phil Albinus is the editor of Traders Magazine.
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