SEC back at full strength with Senate confirmations

By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed one Republican and two Democratic nominees to fill open commissioner seats at the Securities and Exchange Commission, returning the agency to full strength as it tackles oversight of big U.S. investment banks and other issues.

Luis Aguilar, a law partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge, and Elisse Walter, a senior executive with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, were approved for the vacant Democratic seats on the commission.

Troy Paredes, a professor at Washington University School of Law, was approved for the open Republican spot.

The three commissioners join the SEC amid an intensifying debate on how to oversee U.S. investment banks. The agency has been working with the Federal Reserve on an agreement to share information about the banks.

The SEC is also crafting credit rating agency reforms in wake of the subprime mortgage crisis and working on plans for the general acceptance of international accounting standards in the United States.

Calls to the SEC were not immediately returned and it was unclear how soon Aguilar, Walter and Paredes will start their jobs.

The five-member SEC has been operating without Democratic commissioners since February.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Brian Moss and Mark Porter)