Director of International Affairs Ethiopis Tafara to Leave SEC (with Lofchie Comment)

The SEC has announced that Ethiopis Tafara, Director of the SEC's Office of International Affairs, will leave the agency at the end of next month after 13 years of public service. The SEC's Office of International Affairs ("OIA") advises the Commission on cross-border enforcement and regulatory matters, and engages in regulatory dialogues with authorities outside the U.S. Mr. Tafara joined the SEC staff in 2000 and has served as Director of OIA for the past 10 years.

Lofchie Comment: Mr. Tafara has long been a central figure in the discussion of issues of cross-border financial regulation. In 2007, he co-authored an article in the Harvard Journal of International Law, titled "A Blueprint for Cross-Border Access to US Investors," that brought considerable attention to the international regulatory framework, and that itself became the subject of complete journals. See, e.g., Ed Greene's review of Mr. Tafara's article, in which Mr. Greene said, "[Mr. Tafara's] is an idea whose time has certainly come. Indeed, it is one that is long overdue. There can be no argument that the securities markets are now global and that the dominance of the United States as the leading player in the global marketplace is being challenged."

Click here to learn more (links externally to SEC website).