SEC gets 26% funding boost under Obama’s 2015 budget

The agency would also gauge whether to add new staff members to its new Office of Investor Advocate, which currently has five employees.

SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White said in a Tuesday statement that she was “pleased that the President’s FY 2015 Request recognizes the SEC’s need for significant additional resources. The $1.7 billion requested will be critical for the SEC to fulfill its mission to investors and our markets. It is also important to remember that this funding comes from industry transaction fees and does not take money away from other priorities or contribute to the federal deficit.”

The Obama administration requested $1.67 billion for the SEC in 2014, but Congress set the SEC’s budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in September, at $1.35 billion.

However, Congress isn’t likely to take action on any 2015 spending bills until after the midterm elections in November. This fact makes the president’s budget “even more irrelevant than in most other years,” says David Tittsworth, executive director of the Investment Adviser Association in Washington.

“Nonetheless, the president’s budget reflects the administration’s continuing support for Mary Jo White’s priorities, which include hiring a lot of additional SEC examiners to inspect investment advisory firms,” Tittsworth says.

The SEC announced in late February that it had started an exam sweep of about 4,000 never-examined advisors registered with the SEC for three or more years.

See also:

• Obama budget steps up retirement provisions
• Budget proposal phases out some PPACA funding