The Securities Industry and Financial
Markets AssociationAssociation is a
United States industry trade group
representing securities firms, banks,
and asset management companies. SIFMA
was formed on November 1, 2006, from the
merger of the Bond Market Association
and the Securities Industry Association.
It has offices in New York City and
Washington, D.C.
In October 2008, SIFMA reduced its staff
by 25% or more due to the financial
crisis of 2007–08 which left its member
firms in financial straits, and the loss
of three of its primary member
firms—Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and
Merrill Lynch. The dismissals came at
the same time as the United States
Congress was considering changes in the
country's financial regulatory
structure. SIFMA announced in May 2009
that it would also shed its London-based
European operation. That operation was
merged into the London Investment
Banking Association.
The 350-member American Securitization
Forum formerly operated as a forum of
SIFMA. On January 14, 2010, ASF
announced that it had chosen to
terminate its affiliation with SIFMA as
well.
Mission, members, and offices 
= US operation =
In January 2010, SIFMA announced that it
had hired the law firm Sidley Austin to
consider filing a lawsuit challenging
the Obama administration's banking levy.
But an attorney familiar with the matter
said: "I suspect SIFMA got out ahead of
its key members." One person with a
large bank said SIFMA had not consulted
the bank about its position, and that it
was "wildly premature" to pursue legal
action.
In October 2010, CEO Tim Ryan announced
the organization's opposition in the
residential real estate market to a
"system wide moratorium on all
foreclosures," reacting to problems and
pullbacks in the market by a number of
SIFMA members, saying a moratorium
"would be catastrophic." Financial
writer Felix Salmon drew attention to
the position, terming it "unhelpful,"
detailing it as "bizarre" and "sad, ...
an inchoate and unhelpful blast of
opposition ... [without] constructive
solutions" proposed.
Political giving and lobbying 
"SIFMA's political action committees
gave more than $1 million during the
2006 election season, putting the
organization in the top 25 of all PACs.
Its combined $8.5 million in spending on
federal lobbying last year placed it in
the top 30. The financial-services
industry is the biggest corporate player
in national politics. Only organized
labor donates more money to candidates
for federal offices."
Senior management 
Kenneth E. Bentson, a former U.S.
Congressman, is SIFMA's CEO & President.
In 2014, he also replaced Simon Lewis,
CEO of the Association of Financial
Markets in Europe, as the CEO of Global
Financial Markets Association, the
umbrella group for AFME, ASIFMA, and
SIFMA. ASIFMA is the Asian Securities
Industry and Financial Markets
Association.
T. Timothy Ryan, Jr., was previously
SIFMA's CEO & President. He took the
position after pulling his name from
consideration for a United States
Treasury Department international policy
advisor position in April 2007, after
problems were noted concerning Ryan's
financial portfolio, and Ryan refused to
take certain steps demanded by the
Treasury Department's ethics lawyers.
SIFMA's other senior management consists
of Kenneth E. Bentsen, Ileane F.
Rosenthal, Randy Snook, and Ira
Hammerman.,
In August 2008, SIFMA hired Michael
Paese, former Deputy Staff Director of
the Committee on Financial Services of
the House of Representatives, as EVP,
Global Advocacy; eight months later
Paese left SIFMA to become director of
government affairs at Goldman Sachs.
Scott DeFife, who had reported to Paese,
left SIFMA in December 2009.
After the 2006 merger which created
SIFMA, the organization had a co-CEO
structure, with the SIA's Marc E.
Lackritz and BMA's Micah S. Green
filling the positions. As a 2007 report
summarized it, "Lackritz [then 60] ha[d]
been a friend, colleague and mentor of
Green's [then 49] for two decades."
However, with slower-than-hoped-for
integration of the merged organization's
operations, and with questions about the
handling of executive loans by BMA,
Green resigned abruptly that year and
Lackritz assumed the role of sole CEO.
Nine months later, Lackritz retired and
Ryan was named CEO.
Board of directors 
SIFMA's Chairman of the Board is Blythe
Masters, and Vice Chair is Bernard Beal.
Other directors include Samir Assaf,
Shigesuki Kashiwagi and Sallie
Krawcheck, among others.
Peter Madoff, brother of fraudster and
"money manager" Bernard L. Madoff, and
chief compliance officer and senior
managing director of the Madoff
investment advisor and broker dealer
businesses, stepped down from the SIFMA
Board of Directors in December 2008. On
June 29, 2012, Peter Madoff pleaded
guilty to conspiracy and falsifying
records and agreed to serve 10 years in
prison.
The Madoff family had long-standing ties
to SIFMA. Bernard Madoff served on the
Board of Directors of the Securities
Industry Association, a precursor of
SIFMA, and Peter Madoff served two terms
as a member of SIFMA’s Board of
Directors. From 2000 until 2008, the
Madoffs brothers donated $56,000
directly to SIFMA, and paid additional
money as sponsors of industry meetings.
Bernard Madoff's niece Shana Madoff was
a member of the Executive Committee of
SIFMA's Compliance and Legal Division,
but resigned shortly after Madoff's
arrest.
Finances 
In 2007 SIFMA had $105 million in both
revenues and expenses. SIFMA's
highest-paid officers that year were
Donald Kittel, $2.1 million, Marc
Lackritz, $1.5 million, and Randolph
Snook, $1.1 million.
SIFMA's highest-paid officer in 2008 was
its new president and CEO Tim Ryan. Ryan
had been hired to replace Lackritz in
January 2008, at a 43% higher level of
compensation, for less than a full year.
In related news, ironically, Ryan wrote
in a USA Today editorial in August 2009
that compensation practices at financial
services firms should align with
long-term, not short-term, performance.
SIFMA's top-three highest-paid officers
in the fiscal year ending October 31,
2009 were CEO Tim Ryan at $2.43 million,
Executive Vice President Randolph Snook
at $1.04 million, and General Counsel
Ira Hammerman at $777,000. SIFMA
received total revenue that year of $75
million, had total expenses of $82
million, and finished the year with a
fund balance of $40 million. In 2011,
Ryan's compensation was the highest
among the leaders of 22 self-regulatory,
dealer, governmental, and other groups
in the municipal bond market, at $3.0
million.
CEO Tim Ryan earned $2.51 million base
compensation for the fiscal year ended
October 31, 2012, more than the
compensation of any of the officials
heading the other 20 self-regulatory,
industry, government, and other
municipal securities-related groups. His
compensation was far higher than that of
the Securities and Exchange Commission
Chairman Mary Jo White, who earned
$165,300. Executive Vice President Ken
Bentsen received a total of $1.12
million, and Randy Snook received $1.04
million.
References 
External links 
Securities Industry and Financial
Markets Association
"Richard Hunt Leaving SIFMA," Roll Call
News, 1108
