Three New Board Members To Join Securities Investor Protection Corporation

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two individuals nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate and a new representative from the U.S. Department of the Treasury will serve as the three newest directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms.

The three new SIPC directors are: Anthony (Tony) D'Agostino, managing director of the Bank of America; Gregg Karawan, senior vice president and general counsel, Genworth Financial Insurance & Wealth Management; and Cyrus Amir-Mokri, assistant secretary for financial institutions, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Acting SIPC Board Chair Sharon Bowen said: "We are delighted to welcome three such outstanding new board members.  The SIPC Board and U.S. investors will benefit from their diverse experience and high-level expertise in the financial industry, regulatory and legal space. We thank these individuals for making the necessary time to put forth the considerable effort required to perform this important public service work."

Anthony (Tony) D'Agostino is a managing director at Bank of America serving in the role of the Basel Readiness executive. He oversees the initiatives necessary for the company to achieve and maintain Basel regulatory capital readiness on a global basis. Before joining Bank of America, D'Agostino was the COO of the Global Quantitative Analytics group at UBS Investment Bank. Previously, he worked at Wachovia Securities, where he served as the COO of equity capital markets, co-head of program and algorithmic trading, and as a trader and analyst for the firm's U.S. equity proprietary trading business. Prior to his career on Wall Street, D'Agostino served in the US Navy on active duty for 24 years, both as an officer and an enlisted sailor.  He earned degrees from the University of Kansas and an M.S. from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Gregory S. Karawan started his career at Genworth and its predecessor companies in 2000 as vice president and global chief litigation counsel.  In January 2007, he took the role of senior vice president and general counsel of Genworth's Insurance and Wealth Management Division, and in January 2009, also resumed the role of global chief litigation counsel.  Prior to joining Genworth, from 1990 to 2000, Karawan worked at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, where he was a partner from 1994 to 2000.  He was an associate at the law firm of Ashinoff Ross & Korff from 1988-1990.  Karawan received an undergraduate degree in economics from SUNY Binghamton, and a law degree from Fordham Law School in 1988.

Cyrus Amir-Mokri serves as the U.S. Department of the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions. He is responsible for developing and coordinating Treasury's policies on issues affecting financial institutions. Amir-Mokri most recently served as senior counsel to the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), where he also was the agency's deputy representative to the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Prior to joining the CFTC, he was a partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. His practice focused on complex securities and antitrust litigation. Amir-Mokri also clerked for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He earned a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, and an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard College.

The three new SIPC directors replace outgoing board members Mark Shelton, William Heyman, and George Madison.

ABOUT SIPC

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation is the U.S. investor's first line of defense in the event a brokerage firm fails, owing customers cash and securities that are missing from customer accounts. SIPC either acts as trustee or works with an independent court-appointed trustee in a brokerage insolvency case to recover funds.

The statute that created SIPC provides that customers of a failed brokerage firm receive all non-negotiable securities - such as stocks or bonds -- that are already registered in their names or in the process of being registered. At the same time, funds from the SIPC reserve are available to satisfy the remaining claims for customer cash and/or securities held in custody with the broker for up to a maximum of $500,000 per customer. This figure includes a maximum of $250,000 on claims for cash. From the time Congress created it in 1970 through December 2010, SIPC has advanced $ 1.6 billion in order to make possible the recovery of $ 109.3 billion in assets for an estimated 739,000 investors.

All non-media/investor inquiries of SIPC should be directed to [email protected] or (202) 371-8300.

SOURCE Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)