Posted by Marcelo Perez

In what seems will have a huge impact on the markets and its regulatory body, President-elect Obama has selected seasoned regulator Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Via MSNBC:

The appointment comes as Obama considers a major overhaul of the heavily criticized agency. The SEC, created after the 1929 stock market crash to police markets and restore investor confidence, has come under fire after the Wall Street meltdown and financial scandals exposed lapses in its oversight.

“We have been asleep at the switch,” Obama said during a news conference Thursday, speaking about the current U.S. financial regulatory system.

Schapiro is currently the chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory body for the securities industry. She has had prior experience working for the SEC, serving as commissioner for six years. Schapiro then became chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission in 1994 during the Clinton administration. If confirmed by the Senate, Schapiro would replace current SEC chairman Christopher Cox, who has come under heavy criticism for his lapse in detecting Madoff’s $50 billion scam.

Obama also named Georgetown University law professor Daniel Tarullo to fill one of two vacancies on the seven-seat Federal Reserve Board, which is battling to ease a credit crisis and fend off a deepening recession, and he picked former Treasury official Gary Gensler to head the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates the U.S. commodity futures and options market.

See the full list of Obama’s Staff and Cabinet Picks.