Barack Obama is on Friday expected to name Mary Schapiro, head of the securities industry’s self-regulatory body, as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to senior Democratic officials.

The decision to appoint Ms Schapiro, 53, chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, comes as the SEC faces an avalanche of criticism for its role in the financial crisis.

After being blamed for failing to properly oversee the big Wall Street investment banks, the agency this week acknowledged that it failed to respond to “credible and specific” allegations dating back to 1999 of financial wrongdoing by New York broker Bernard Madoff, who has admitted an alleged $50bn “Ponzi” scheme.

Ms Schapiro, who has worked in US regulation for more than 20 years, has a consummate Washington resume, a tough skin and a reputation as strong enforcer of securities laws. She is also widely respected by the securities industry.

She was the youngest person ever to sit on the SEC when President Ronald Reagan appointed her in 1988. She moved to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Bill Clinton in 1994 as its chairman.

Ms Schapiro’s experience at both regulators could help oversee a merger of the two bodies – as many industry critics have suggested.

She worked for more than a decade to combine the regulatory functions of the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange. In 2006, they were combined to become Finra, the non-government regulator for securities firms.

Ms Schapiro, is candid about the shortcomings of the US regulatory system and has called for further consolidation. “If you could start from scratch, you would never invent the kind of system we have today,” she told the Financial Times this year.

But the role of Finra could also come under scrutiny amid questions about the failings of regulators to detect the Madoff fraud.

Mr Obama has filled his cabinet and other top positions in record time since becoming president-elect last month.

He is expected to name Ray LaHood, a Republican congressman from Illinois, as transportation secretary in coming days.

On Thursday, he named Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, as agriculture secretary, and Ken Salazar, senator for Colorado, as interior secretary.