The state's new securities commissioner is using his Wall Street experience to bat for Missouri residents and investors.
Doug Jacoby has spent the last 31 years in New York, primarily working on the trading floors of investment banks. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft appointed him commissioner of the Missouri Securities Division in August.
"We've got a big task, a big challenge, and I think that's exciting," he said. "It's better than coming in and being bored."
Jacoby left for New York in the '80s shortly after finishing school in St. Louis. Family medical issues brought him back to his home state in 2019, and he began serving as the director of enforcement within the securities division soon after.
Now he's leading the securities division, which is responsible for regulating financial services in the state and enforcing those rules. The division examines investment advisers and broker-dealers throughout the state, for example, to ensure they are complying with state regulations.
"We've got our hands full, obviously," he said. "We've got a full docket back in enforcement."
There are three sections within the Securities Division: examinations, which routinely visits with broker-dealers and investment advisers to ensure they are following state regulations; registration, which identifies and keeps track of broker-dealers and investment adviser firms in the state; and enforcement, which fields fraud claims from Missouri residents, investigates and prosecutes them.
In addition to overseeing those areas, Jacoby is the hearing officer for any cases brought by the enforcement division.
Jacoby said his background working for "competitive and intense" investment banks in New York has given him the skills and mindset to effectively act as a watchdog in Missouri.
"Even though this is not exactly at that level, I'm used to operating at a high tempo, so I think we'll definitely get the job done downstairs despite all the challenges we have," he said.
The subject matter is his favorite part about the job, he said.
"It's what I'm familiar with from my time on (Wall) Street," Jacoby said. "And I think I just like doing this type of business with this type of subject matter. It's nice to be on this side of the fence -- before I was in the industry, now I'm on the regulatory side of the fence regulating the industry, so it's interesting."
Jacoby said he understands the way financial service companies think and he's been on the receiving end of charging documents from regulators before. He's been the lawyer responsible for responding and thinking up defenses to the charges.
And that gives him an upper hand.
"It makes me a better negotiator because I know when I've got the advantage in negotiations," he said.
Going after perpetrators of financial fraud is important to ensure Missourians can safely invest, Jacoby said. Some ongoing cases involve Missouri residents losing their entire retirement savings.
Jacoby said he's not interested in getting wins on paper. He wants to return money back to Missourians scammed by fraud.
"I am not willing to back off, and I want to get the money paid back to the people who've been victimized by the fraudsters," he said. "I'm less inclined to budge because I understand what it means to them, and I understand that the firms, usually, have deep pockets that they can pay."
Jacoby said he'd like to add more staff to increase the volume of work the division handles.
The current staff is skilled and pleasant, he said.
"It's nice to come in and interact with them every day," he said. "I think if you're working with people you genuinely like and you know are good at their job, it just makes waking up and going into work that much easier."
Jacoby said he's learning a lot about the regulatory side of financial services. It's education he could take with him if returning back to the private sector, he said.
He's focused on public service for the moment, though.
The past three years in Jefferson City have been dramatically different from his time in Manhattan.
Jacoby said he enjoys commuting in a car rather than the subway system, the quiet of his office over the bustling trading floor, the sheer amount of room to spread out and the generally mild weather.
"It's a very different environment, and that's kind of nice," he said.