The Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) advances the Commission’s statutory mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation through sound economic analysis and rigorous data analytics.

DERA engages across the entire range of the agency’s functions, including rulemaking, examination, and enforcement. Its multi-disciplinary analyses are informed by research insights, and they rely on the knowledge of institutions and practices when examining regulatory and risk-related matters. DERA assists the Commission in its efforts to identify, analyze, and respond to economic and market issues, including those related to new financial products, investment and trading strategies, systemic risk, and fraud. DERA’s data analytics work develops a variety of financial and market data-analysis tools, supplies economic statistics, and promotes data standards.

The activities of the Offices as a whole include:

  • providing detailed, high-quality economic and statistical analyses, and specific subject-matter expertise to the Commission and other Divisions/Offices
  • identifying and analyzing issues, trends, and innovations in the marketplace
  • developing customized, analytic tools and analyses to proactively detect market risks indicative of possible violations of the Federal securities laws. Using data, DERA staff create analytic programs designed to detect patterns identifying risks, enabling Commission divisions and offices to deploy scarce resources targeting possible misconduct
  • working with outside experts in academia and industry to strengthen the Commission’s foundation of market knowledge
  • managing and analyzing public and private data to support relevant initiatives and projects
  • creating knowledge through high-quality research and publication in peer-reviewed journals
  • participating in, and contributing to, academic and industry conferences

DERA Offices