The US Securities and Exchange Commission will need to add about 800 employees to its already growing staff to carry out the responsibilities given it under a financial overhaul bill that will soon become law, according to SEC chairman Mary Schapiro.

In written testimony prepared for a House hearing today, Schapiro said SEC staffers already have begun discussions about a new whistleblower rule that allows regulators to compensate tipsters up to 30% of sanctions that exceed $1m (€772,000). SEC's enforcement division considers the new ability to woo industry informers to be a crucial tool in ferreting out insider trading and other market abuses.