The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that its six district offices will become regional offices and report directly to the commission's Washington headquarters as of April 2.
The district offices are located in Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas. The SEC’s existing regional offices are located in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
"Our new system also helps eliminate the potential for redundancy and overlap in our inspection and enforcement procedures," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox of eliminating the two-tier hierarchy, in a statement.
The regional designation for the district offices is meant to facilitate their cooperation with state and federal regulators, law enforcement agencies and consumer groups at the local level.
The commission also announced that the deputy director of its enforcement division, Walter Ricciardi, will move to the agency's New York office to oversee the commission's regional enforcement efforts. The SEC’s regional examination program will continue to be overseen by Lori Richards, director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations.
Separately, the chief accountant for the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance will leave the regulator after 11 years of service.
Carol Stacey has served in the position since 2002, where her primary responsibility was applying the SEC’s financial statement requirements to public company filings. In addition to overseeing the financial disclosure of more than 10,000 public companies, she played a key role in implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
A former auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Stacey has accepted a position as vice president at the SEC Institute Inc., an organization engaged in providing continuing education seminars and conferences.
