Mary Schapiro is the head of the SEC.  Here is a lovely gal.  Mary has been a regulator of the securities industry under 4 different administrations.  Sometimes at the SEC, sometimes at FINRA, sometimes at the CFTC…but now she is back at the SEC.

And she is a regulator you can really count on.  By now everybody should know that  my favorite language that comes from the SEC is “no admission of wrongdoing.”  it’s music to the ears and gives anyone with pending litigation that warm feeling in their balls when they know that whatever settlement is laid on the table they  don’t have to admit they did anything wrong and no one has  to concern themselves with any criminal penalties.  Leave that for the lowlife criminals like marijuana smokers and people who fly in Economy.

Now this magical catch phrase – no admission of wrongdoing– has been catching some heat lately and Mary stepped in and stepped up to defend it.  And us.  She said that agreements that close investigations with no admission of wrongdoing speeded up the process and got cases off their books.  Makes complete sense and it’s efficient.  But when it was pointed out that the same big banks that sign these agreements have been signing such agreements for decades, repeatedly, and because of that it might not be such a big deterrent to them committing financial crimes in the future.

Her response to that challenge?

To remind people that she couldn’t help it if people on Wall Street had short term memories.

Perfectly reasonable, but let me let you in on something that is probably more true:

What’s even better for us on Wall Street— are regulators with selective amnesia.

So Mary Schapiro?  Play on you beautiful regulator—play on!