SEC names examination chief

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday that Jane Jarcho will become the national associate director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE).

Private equity firms managing north of $150 million in assets are required to enter the SEC's remit and undergo presence examinations conducted by the OCIE.

Jarcho takes over from the head of the OCIE, Andrew Bowden, who assumed the examination role when Carlo di Florio left the SEC in May to lead a new division of risk and strategy at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – a group that may supervise the private equity industry if the government decides to shift oversight powers from the SEC to a self-regulatory organization (or SRO). 

She began her SEC career in the Division of Enforcement and held several positions including branch chief, senior trial counsel, and assistant regional director before joining OCIE in 2008.  

Jarcho will now lead the SEC’s exam initiative that began last October, when head of the OCIE Andrew Bowden sent a letter to all new registered investment advisers detailing the OCIE’s plan to review high risk areas in the private equity industry, including marketing materials, conflicts of interest and valuation.  

The SEC aimed to examine at least one quarter of the 1,521 new advisers by the time its presence exam initiative is completed by end of 2014, di Florio previously said. 

To meet its objectives, the SEC would need to launch 380 presence exams, a goal made easier if the commission’s proposed 2013 budget is approved, which would result in the hiring of as many as 250 additional examiners