Associate Director in the Division of Trading and Markets, Wenchi Hu, leaves SEC

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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Wenchi Hu, an Associate Director in the Division of Trading and Markets, will leave the agency in early February.

Ms. Hu has headed the division’s Office of Clearance and Settlement Supervision since August 2015, after serving three months as its Acting Associate Director. The office oversees registered clearing agencies including those that are designated systemically important in the equity, options, government and mortgage-backed securities, and security-based swaps markets. It routinely coordinates with the Federal Reserve Board, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and regulators outside the U.S. to enhance supervision of clearing agencies.

Wenchi has been a tremendous source of expertise on clearance and settlement matters and played a critical role with respect to the Commission’s clearing agency supervision program. During her time at the Commission, she made invaluable contributions to the review of numerous clearing agency initiatives that have had a significant impact on the national clearance and settlement system and the financial markets.” said Heather Seidel, Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.

During her tenure, Ms. Hu has overseen more than 150 clearing agency initiatives, including National Securities Clearing Corp.’s Accelerated Trade Guaranty, Fixed Income Clearing Corp.’s permanent adoption of its GCF repo pilot program and suspension of the GCF repo interbank program, and ICE Clear Credit’s default management, recovery, and wind-down rule change. She also oversaw LCH SA’s application for registration as a security-based swap clearing agency, the first by a non-U.S. clearing house.

Ms. Hu commented:

It has been a great honor to serve at the Commission. I have been privileged to work with extremely talented and dedicated staff members and contribute to the Commission’s important work on clearing agency oversight.

Ms. Hu joined the SEC in November 2011 as a senior special counsel in the Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations and later moved to the Office of Derivatives Policy in the Division of Trading and Markets. She was named Assistant Director in the division’s Office of Clearance and Settlement Supervision in June 2013. Ms. Hu is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law (Order of the Coif) and holds master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard Law School. Before joining the SEC she worked as managing director and senior counsel at Rabobank Nederland in New York and was an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP.

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