[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Boy, do they ever need it! Daniel Gallagher, the newest SEC Commissioner, set a new course for SEC/SRO relations at the "Collaboration, Cooperation, and Oversight" conference last week.  Created to further collaboration between the 2 groups, the conference addressed how much weight the SEC would carry in its oversight of SROs going forward. Mr. Gallagher noted in his address that "SEC oversight must be conducted in a way that respects the unique missions and market structures of the various SROs."  In the event that that was not possible, he said 2 questions should be raised:

• Should we have exchanges with statutory self regulatory responsibilities when, in fact, the vast majority of those responsibilities have been outsourced to another SRO?
• What limits, if any, should the Commission impose on the ability of an SRO to contract with others?

He will urge the SEC to consider these questions, similar to those raised by the Commission in its SRO concept release in 2004, toward "concrete results that further the incredibly important relationship between the SEC and SROs." [SEC Commissioner Remarks (Speeches), 1/12/12]