The New York Post’s John Aidan Byrne reports the SEC is planning a sweeping campaign against high-frequency traders in the wake of revelations about the extent of their impact published in Michael Lewis’ book “Flash Boys.” Byrne says a series of new regulations and enforcement actions by the agency will amount to a “purge” of the sector, competition against which “Flash Boys” protagonist Brad Katsuyama described as like “getting screwed, but [I] couldn’t figure out who was screwing me.” “You’ll probably see the commission coalesce around those enforcement cases and then bring new rules on high-frequency trading,” a source with knowledge of the SEC’s thinking told the Post. “There’s a lot of pressure on the SEC to act.” More on Business Insider [...]

Here’s the best story you’ll read today out of Wall Street or Washington: The scoop by Robert Schmidt of Bloomberg News on a retiring Securities and Exchange Commission trial attorney who used his farewell speech to scold his former bosses for being “tentative and fearful” when it came to going after top Wall Street executives in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Let’s break it down into four blunt points. More on Bloomberg BusinessWeek [...]

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Jo White was sworn into office a year ago and over the past several weeks she’s made no secret of her desire to protect the retail investor. The SEC, White said in a speech to the Consumer Federation of America, plays an advocacy role with regard to retail investors, she said. “Protecting investors underlies everything we do,” White said. More on InsuranceNewsNet.com [...]