SEC names lieutenant in exam initiative

On Tuesday the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) named Jane Jarcho its national associate director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program, a part of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE).

Last year private equity firms managing north of $150 million in assets were required to enter the SEC's remit, which brought the possibility of undergoing presence examinations conducted by the OCIE.

Jarcho will serve under OCIE director Andrew Bowden, who became chief inspector 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). 

Jarcho began her SEC career in the enforcement division, holding several positions including branch chief, senior trial counsel, and assistant regional director before joining the OCIE in 2008. She will now help lead the SEC’s exam initiative that began last October, when 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 aims to examine at least one quarter of the 1,521 newly registered advisers by the time its presence exam initiative is completed by end of 2014, di Florio previously said.