WASH­ING­TON–The chair­man of the Se­cu­ri­ties and Ex­change Com­mis­sion says the agency will start re­quir­ing com­pa­nies and in­di­vid­u­als to ad­mit wrong­do­ing in some big set­tle­ments.Cur­rent­ly the SEC al­lows com­pa­nies and in­di­vid­u­als to set­tle charges with­out ad­mit­ting or deny­ing wrong­do­ing. Crit­ics, in­clud­ing a fed­er­al judge, have com­plained that pol­i­cy doesn't de­ter re­peat vi­o­la­tions.

Mary Jo White says the SEC will now de­mand ad­mis­sions in cas­es in­volv­ing se­ri­ous fraud or harm to in­vestors, and where "it's very im­por­tant to have that pub­lic ac­knowl­edge­ment and ac­count­abil­i­ty." She dis­closed the planned pol­i­cy change Tues­day at a con­fer­ence or­ga­nized by The Wall Street Jour­nal.At the same time, White said the SEC will re­tain "no ad­mit or de­ny" for most en­force­ment cas­es, call­ing it an im­por­tant tool for win­ning set­tle­ments.