We know there will be new leadership at the SEC.  President Biden has already nominated Gary Gensler as the new SEC Chair. Mr. Gensler, who served as chairman of the CFTC under Obama, was widely perceived as an aggressive CFTC chairman during the financial crisis. At that time, this aggressiveness eased progressives’ concerns that President Obama was appointing a Wall Street executive (Gensler is an alumnus of Goldman Sachs) to head the CFTC. Now, opposition to Gensler is more likely to come from conservatives, who may regard him as an overzealous enforcer.

Meanwhile, the Commission is being led by acting Chair Allison Herren Lee.  Chair Lee is a long-time SEC enforcement attorney who also acted as counsel to Commissioner Kara Stein before assuming her position as a commissioner in mid-2019.  She is regarded as pro-enforcement and will be an ally of Mr. Gensler should he be confirmed as Chairman.

What will this new leadership mean for market participants?

Read more here.

Regulatory Updates from Cari Hopsfenperger at Hardin Compliance Consulting LLC.

Topics include:

• Between a Rock and a Hard Place:  SEC’s FAQs on Conflicts of Interest and Recent Settlements Set Bar Impossibly High for Advisers
• RIAs — Get our Your Checkbooks!  It’s Time to Fund Your Annual Renewal Accounts on IARD
• SEC Establishes Asset Management Advisory Committee
• $$ The 2020 Annual Renewal Program is Underway $$
• FINRA Wants to Know if Broker-Dealers are Ready for Regulation Best Interest
• Attention Underwriters, Syndicate Managers and Members, and Selling Group Members
• Does Your Firm Issue Investment Fund Research Reports?
• FINRA 2019 Industry Snapshot
• 2019 Report on FINRA Examination Findings and Observations
• Leaders of CFTC, FinCEN, and SEC Issue Joint Statement on Activities Involving Digital Assets
• SEC Adopts New ETF Rule and Modernizes ETF Regulations
• Notice to Mutual Fund Managers – Review your Performance and Related Disclosures
• NFA Updates Rules on Supervision

Read the full update here.