Nominee for S.E.C. Chief Pledges to Keep Focus on Enforcement

WASHINGTON â€" Mary Jo White plans to strike a hard line against Wall Street wrongdoing at a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, as she deflects concerns from lawmakers who question her ability to regulate banks she recently defended.

In written testimony released on Monday to the Senate Banking Committee, which must approve her nomination as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. White outlined her experience pursuing white-collar crime as a federal prosecutor in New York. As head of the S.E.C., Ms. White wrote, she would continue her campaign to root out financial fraud.

âœIf confirmed, it will be a high priority throughout my tenure to further strengthen the enforcement function of the S.E.C. - it must be fair, but it also must be bold and unrelenting,” Ms. White, who has defended JPMorgan Chase, UBS and other Wall Street giants, said in the written testimony. “Strong enforcement is necessary for investor confidence and is essential to the integrity of our financial markets.”

The hearing on Tuesday will present the last opportunity to woo her critics. Over the last few weeks, Ms. White held meetings with committee members and answered the committee’s 20-page questionnaire detailing her qualifications.

Ms. White also provided the first window into her priorities as an S.E.C. chief. She placed a premium on unearthing financial fraud, and also spelled out an agenda that includes keeping a clo! ser eye on high-speed trading firms that now dominate the markets and putting the finishing touches on new rules for Wall Street.

Although Ms. White is widely expected to receive Senate approval later this month, she will face broader questions at the hearing about her turns through the revolving door bridging government service and private practice.

For three decades, she bounced between the federal government and a lucrative legal practice at Debevoise & Plimpton. As head of litigation at the firm, she defended JPMorgan Chase in financial crisis cases, Morgan Stanley’s board in vetting a chief executive and Michael Geoghegan, the former head of HSBC. She also worked side by side with clients uder scrutiny for selling troubled mortgage securities at the height of the housing boom.

To avert potential conflicts stemming from her work on behalf of Wall Street giants, Ms. White had already agreed to recuse herself for one year from most matters involving former clients and issues that touch the legal practice of her husband, John W. White, co-chairman of the corporate governance practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Ms. White also vowed “as far as can be foreseen” never to return to Debevoise and plans to soon cut financial ties with the firm.

“There is no higher calling than public service,” she will assure lawmakers on Tuesday, according to the prepared remarks.

She will also confront a significant backlog of rules mandated under the Dodd-Frank Act, the regulatory overhaul passed in response to the financial crisis

“The S.E.C. needs to get the rules right, but it also needs to get them done,” she said in the prepared testimony.

Her focus on the overh! aul could! placate some lawmakers and consumer advocates who are nudging the S.E.C. to complete the rules. But some lawmakers are unsatisfied. Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, has questioned whether Ms. White’s pledge to avoid matters involving former clients would undercut her ability to run the agency. Others are scrutinizing her lack of regulatory experience.

Despite concerns about her Wall Street ties, Ms. White’s nomination is expected to sail through the committee before receiving full Senate approval. The committee’s chairman, Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, already hailed her nomination.

“Chairman Johnson recently had the opportunity to meet with S.E.C. nominee Mary Jo White, and the meeting was informative and candid,” his spokesman said in a statement. “The meeting made clear why Ms. White isso well-respected. She has a superb resume and Chairman Johnson was impressed with her in-depth knowledge of the issues and her commitment to taking a balanced approach at the S.E.C.”

Ms. White’s supporters also argue that her time defending Wall Street better prepared her to shine a light on its darkest corners. They further trumpet her long prosecutorial tenure.

During stints as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and later as the first woman to be United States attorney in Manhattan, she helped oversee the prosecution of the crime figure John Gotti and directed the case against those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The cases won her praise from several Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Charles Schumer, who called her “tough as nails.”

At the hearing on Tuesday, Ms. ! White wil! l testify alongside join Richard Cordray, who is in line to become director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In January, when the White House nominated Ms. White to the S.E.C. spot, it reappointed Mr. Cordray to a position he has held for the last year under a temporary recess appointment.

The Senate last year declined to confirm him in the face of Republican and Wall Street opposition to the newly created consumer bureau. Republicans are likely to voice similar skepticism at the hearing.

But the central focus will remain on Ms. White.

“If confirmed,❠she said, “I will vigorously embrace and carry out the S.E.C.’s mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”