Acting SEC chair scales back enforcement unit's subpoena powers

Acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar has taken steps to limit the agency's enforcement division's powers to initiate investigations and issue subpoenas, according to sources quoted by Reuters. Under the new policy, the enforcement division's associate directors will no longer have authority to issue subpoenas or formally launch probes, the story said. Instead, those requests will be routed through the Stephanie Avakian, the Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement division director, according to the sources, who spoke anonymously because the change has not been publicly announced. The new policy is not expected to have a major impact on the division, the sources said, and is less cumbersome than routing it through the commission itself, which entails a review by all of the SEC's divisions. The change marks a departure from the policy unveiled by former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro in 2009 as a response to the agency's failures to detect Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme. Ms. Schapiro's policy was seen as making the enforcement division more nimble by not requiring the full five-member commission to sign off first. ​