The SEC is shifting its attention from crimes related to the financial crisis to malfeasance in derivatives and other complicated financial instruments.
Andrew Ceresney, the co-director of the agency's enforcement division, speaking this week at a conference sponsored by the Practising Law Institute in New York, said the agency would also concentrate its efforts on market structure and implementation of rules.
The reorganization of the enforcement division began in July, when programs were initiated to crack down on financial reporting fraud, microcap fraud and to improve its risk analysis capabilities.
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In the years since 2008, Robert Khuzami, who stepped down as the division's chief in January, had focused on asset management, market abuse, structured products, foreign corrupt practices, municipal securities and public pensions.
"Those cases are coming to an end so we need to turn the page," Ceresney was quoted saying by the Wall Street Journal. He added that the new focus is "a work in progress."
Ceresney was named co-director of the division in April with George Canellos, who had been acting director since January. Both men are former federal prosecutors.
They were chosen by the new SEC director, Mary Jo White, who had worked with them in the public and private practice. When White took over the agency, she promised "bold" and "unrelenting" enforcement of laws.
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