Congress

The SEC this month asked Congress to up its annual budget in fiscal year 2021 by almost $90 million to $1.9 billion, representing a 5 percent increase from its current appropriation. The additional moneys, if approved, would fund a variety of items, including increased personnel for enforcement, examinations and improvements in cybersecurity.

The SEC this month posted its reply to its Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG’s) most recent Semiannual Report to Congress – a report in which the watchdog agency raised questions about the SEC’s measurement of analytics, its redesign of the EDGAR system, its adoption of cloud computing services, and more.

The Investment Adviser Association and a group of seven other associations and firms, in a recent letter to Congressional leaders, criticized a portion of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – better known as President Donald Trump’s tax cut – that limits their ability to take part in a 20 percent tax deduction.

Whenever an SEC chairman or other high agency officials testify before Congress, there is usually more than one purpose in mind. Certainly they are there to provide an update on various initiatives the SEC has underway and to answer questions from interested legislators, as SEC Chairman Jay Clayton did in his recent testimony before a Senate committee, but there is also the need to do what they can to ensure that the agency’s funding for the coming year will meet its needs.

In a development not seen in a dozen years, the full Commission – SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and the four agency commissioners – recently testified before a House of Representative committee on the wide range of the SECs plans, actions and concerns. As part of their testimony, as well as in answers to questions from […]

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate March 14 would go at least part of the way toward redressing the Supreme Court judgment that limited disgorgement to a five-year statute of limitations. The bill would provide the SEC with the authority to seek restitution for investors harmed by fraudsters - and allow the agency to go back 10 years in pursuing such actions.

The partial government shutdown - which includes the SEC - is now approximately three weeks old, and the effect on advisers, funds and others regulated by the agency is only likely to grow the longer it stays in effect. Most aspects of SEC regulation - examinations, answers to questions or requests, enforcement and more - have slowed considerably, if not stopped, leaving advisory firms and investment companies that are dependent on the SEC without a clear path forward.

Stay away from proxy advisory firms and focus instead on repairing proxy infrastructure. That was the message the Investment Adviser Association sent in a letter this month to the Senate Banking Committee, which on the same day held a hearing on issues related to a bill that, if passed, would require proxy advisory firms to register with the SEC as investment advisers, meaning they would be subject to agency regulation.

SEC Division of Investment Management Director Dalia Blass, speaking before a House of Representative subcommittee, laid out three guiding principles that the division plans to follow under her tenure. In wide ranging testimony that covered the Divisions agenda, she discussed specific measures the Division plans to take, including marketing reforms and a new look at fund board responsibilities, under those principles.

The Senate on September 5 confirmed the appointment of Elad Roisman as an SEC commissioner by an 85 to 14 vote. His confirmation brings the Commission back up to its full five-member strength.