Mary Schapiro, chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), is expected to be nominated as the chairwoman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by the President-elect Barack Obama in Chicago on Thursday.

After her nomination by Obama and confirmation by the US Senate, Schapiro would be the first woman nominated to lead the SEC in the agency's 74-year history. Former SEC Commissioner Harvey Goldschmid was also under consideration for SEC chairman by Obama.

Schapiro, who is a lawyer and a member of the board of directors of Duke Energy Corp and Kraft Foods Inc., would be taking over the agency that has faced withering criticism in recent months, due to its failure to detect Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud and to prevent the collapse of investment banks Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc..

Schapiro, 53, has served as a SEC commissioner for six years, before heading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1994 during the Clinton administration. At Finra, Schapiro leads the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the US public. Schapiro also spearheaded Finra's July 2007 creation in a merger of the National Association of Securities Dealers with the New York Stock Exchange's regulatory arm.

With the SEC's relevance and competence to be scrutinized, as Congress weighs overhauling market regulation, William McLucas, a former SEC enforcement director, said: "The agency is at a critical juncture in its history. What the agency needs right now, more than ever, is leadership. Schapiro is going to be exactly what the agency needs."