WASHINGTON — In her new role as SEC Chairman, Mary Schapiro has already halted a "penalty pilot" program which had required the agency's enforcement staff to obtain special approvals in cases involving civil monetary penalties for public companies as punishment for securities fraud.

Speaking at the Feb. 6 Practising Law Institute's SEC Speaks in 2009 program meeting, Schapiro said she discovered that the penalty pilot process caused significant delays, discouraged staff from arguing for a penalty in a case that might deserve a penalty and sometimes resulted in reductions in the size of penalties imposed.

Schapiro has also called for faster approval of formal orders of investigation, which are permission slips given out by the commission that allow SEC staff to use the power of subpoenas to compel witness testimony and the production of documents. A former SEC commissioner from 1988 to 1994, Schapiro recalled when formal orders to investigate were routinely reviewed and approved within a couple of days of written approval from the commission, not weeks under the current timeframe.