The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has named risk expert Gregg Berman as head of the Office of Analytics and Research in its Division of Trading and Markets. The office was set up last year to conduct research and analysis that will help inform the Commission’s policies on markets and market structure.
Its focus is on high-frequency trading, initially in equity markets, and its remit includes providing expertise on risk management, quantitative data analysis, trading and portfolio management. Issues that will be investigated range from market structure to new products and rule filings by exchanges.
Berman honed his risk expertise at RiskMetrics Group, the New York-based risk management, corporate governance and financial research and analysis company he co-founded and worked at for 11 years before it was acquired by MSCI in March 2010.
Berman joined the SEC in October 2009 as a senior advisor in the Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation, moving in June 2010 to become senior advisor to the director of the Division of Trading and Markets. Since joining the SEC, Berman has worked on complex issues including analysis of the causes of the May 6, 2010, so-called Flash Crash, rule making to create a consolidated audit trait and rules for derivatives trading required by the Dodd-Frank Act. He comments: “Though the markets may be complex, they are not impenetrable and I am confident in our abilities to continue developing data driven analyses to inform policy.”
Among the tools Berman and his team will use is Midas, the market information data analytics system the SEC acquired from Tradeworx last year that allows staff to analyse trading using the same exchange trading data that is used by market participants.
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