i am chris holmes and chair of the committee and it is my honor to welcome mary shapiro. g with us for about half an hour. hopefully, there will be time to take questions from the audience. i encourage you, if you have questions, fill out the question cards and send them off. please join me in welcoming merit -- mary shapiro. [applause] >> it is through your efforts to make investing decisions. it is through the decisions of fully informed investors that we can efficiently allocate the capital. unfortunately, the scandals of the last decade have understandably shaken the trust in capital markets. for some time, the fcc and other regulators have been working hard to restore the trust. this is a goal that cannot be achieved by regulators alone. there is a very important role to play. in fact, one of the first rules were adopted after a became chairman was one that recognizes the importance of your profession. it was early in 2009 and we wanted to find a way to provide greater assurance that the accounts held what they said they held. we enacted rules of that call on public a

it is my honor to welcome mary shapiro for our keynote address.lf an hour. hopefully, there will be time to take some questions from the audience. i encourage you if you have questions to fill out those parts and send them up. please join me in welcoming sec chairman mary schapiro. [applause] >> the morning. it is a pleasure to be here. it is through your efforts that investors receive the timely, reliable, and comparable information needed to make informed investment decisions. it is through the decisions of fully informed investors our markets are able to officially allocate the capital that fuels innovation and growth in our economy. unfortunately, the scandal and the crises of the last decades have shaken the public's trust in america's capital markets. for some time now, the sec and other regulators have been working hard to restore that trust. this goal is not one that can be achieved our regulators along. the accounting profession has an important role to play. one of the first rules were adopted was one that recognize the importance of you

north carolina, the senator from louisiana, sent a letter to chairman bernanke, chairman blair, mary shapiro at the f.c.c., mr. demarko at the federal housing agency and secretary donvan at h.u.d., asking them to look at the 941-b requirements at the todd -- of the dodd bill and asked them to complete their work through the amendment the three of us sponsored to create the exception for risk retention requirements by the definition of a qualified mortgage. and i rise today on one of the final days we're here together in congress to raise the importance of this issue, because the current fragile condition of the housing. pass the national reform bill. mr. president, rain a business for 22 years in residential housing in atlanta. during those 22 years the average default rate or -- or delinquent rate was 3% on all mortgages, foreclosures rates were less than 1 1/2. things have changed dramatically in the last few years because of sloppy underwriting, because of no credit, because of no documentation. and we've seen some unbelievable new numbers. according to the fdic the total mortgage delinqu

it is my on it this morning to welcome sec chairman, mary schapiro for our keynote address. chairman shapiro will be speaking with us for about half an hour. hopefully there will be time at the end of the remarks to take questions from the audience. i do encourage you if you have questions to fill out question chitin cinema. so please join me in welcoming sec chairman, mary schapiro. [applause] >> good morning. thank you very much for the introduction, chris. it's a pleasure to be here today because you are working so critical to the effective functioning of our markets. it is through records that investors investors receive a timely, reliable and comparable information needed to make informed investment decisions. and it is through the decisions of fully informed investors that our markets are able to efficiently allocate the capital that fuels innovation and growth in our economy. unfortunately, the scandals and crises of the last decade understandably have shaken the public's trust in america's capital market. for some time now, the sec and other regulators have been working hard to resto