Korean-American Alex Oh to Oversee U.S. Securities Market

Nomination of First Woman of Color as Director of Enforcement at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appointed Korean-American woman Alex Oh (photo) as its Enforcement Director.

According to major foreign media, the newly appointed Director Oh was born in Seoul and immigrated to Maryland, USA, at the age of 11. She became the SEC's first woman of color to serve as Enforcement Director.

Director Oh graduated from Yale Law School and served as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, overseeing Wall Street financiers. Recently, she worked as a partner attorney at the Washington D.C.-based law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.

In a statement, Director Oh said, "I will tirelessly dedicate myself to detecting and prosecuting illegal activities by companies and executives to maintain the U.S. capital markets as the strongest in the world."

The SEC Enforcement Division, led by Director Oh, is a large department with 1,300 members responsible for enforcing securities laws and overseeing the U.S. financial markets.

With Gary Gensler recently appointed as SEC Chairman and expected to pursue strict regulations, Director Oh's role is anticipated to grow. Chairman Gensler led efforts to strengthen derivatives regulations while serving as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2009 to 2014 during the Obama administration, shortly after the 2008 financial crisis.

SEC Chairman Gensler expressed his expectations, stating, "Alex will play a key role as Enforcement Director in actively rooting out illegal activities in the U.S. markets."

The SEC has recently appointed former federal prosecutors with white-collar crime investigation experience as Enforcement Directors consecutively. All four predecessors of Director Oh were also former federal prosecutors.