SEC chief Mary Schapiro favors idea of shared regulator powers in monitoring against risk

SEC chief backs ’systemic risk council’ idea

WASHINGTON — The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission favors a new proposal for federal regulators sharing oversight of companies that pose financial risks to the economy.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said she’s “inclined toward” the idea floated this week by the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for a new “systemic risk council” to monitor large institutions against financial threats. The council would include the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, FDIC and SEC.

Congress is working to craft an overhaul of U.S. financial rules to prevent a repeat of the crisis that plunged markets worldwide into distress.

Speaking to the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund industry’s biggest trade group, Schapiro says she is concerned about an “excessive concentration of power” over financial risk in a single agency.