Elizabeth Warren: SEC 'Actively Reviewing' Big Bank Settlement Policy

WASHINGTON -- The new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Monday that she is reviewing whether her enforcement division has been too lax on Wall Street by allowing banks to settle enforcement actions without going to trial.

"I am actively reviewing the scope of the Commission’s neither-admit-nor-deny settlement policy with the leadership of the Division of Enforcement to determine what, if any, changes may be warranted and whether the SEC is making full appropriate use of its leverage in the settlement process," Mary Jo White told Warren in the letter, provided to HuffPost.

The letter is in response to questions Warren raised in May letters to the SEC, , Attorney General Eric Holder and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

"Have you conducted any internal research or analysis on trade-offs to the public between settling an enforcement action without admission of guilt and going forward with litigation as necessary to obtain such admission and, if so, can you provide that analysis to my office?" Warren asked on May 14.

Earlier this year, Warren embarrassed bank regulators by pressing them during a Senate hearing whether any had taken a bank to trial. A video of the senator's vigorous questioning went viral online. Many of the regulators struggled for answers, pledging to get back to Warren with more information. (White had not yet been appointed SEC chairwoman.)

"There are district attorneys and United States attorneys out there every day squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin grounds and taking them to trial in order to make an example, as they put it. I'm really concerned that 'too big to fail' has become 'too big for trial,'" Warren said at the hearing.