- Key takeaway: Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins highlighted the agency's coordination efforts with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and outlined plans to make it easier for firms to make Initial Public Offerings.
- Expert quote: "After decades of fragmented oversight and overlapping authorities, CFTC Chairman Mike Selig and I have ushered in a new era of harmonization between our two agencies, replacing what I call a regulatory no man's land with fertile ground for innovation." — SEC Chair Paul Atkins
- What's at stake: The SEC has been working to tailor regulations to reduce burdens on firms, in line with other financial regulators.
The Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said Friday that the agency is working closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to create a more unified regulatory framework.
Speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, Atkins highlighted several regulatory changes aimed at simplifying reporting requirements for firms, as well as joint efforts with the CFTC related to cryptocurrency regulation.
"After decades of fragmented oversight and overlapping authorities, CFTC Chairman Mike Selig and I have ushered in a new era of harmonization between our two agencies, replacing what I call a regulatory no man's land with fertile ground for innovation to take root and flourish by providing market participants the clear path forward that they have so long called for," Atkins said.
Atkins highlighted the launch of "Project Crypto," a joint effort with the CFTC designed to modernize rules and regulations to support the migration of financial markets onto blockchain technology. He said recent updates to the initiative provide greater clarity on which digital assets qualify as securities.
He also outlined upcoming measures, including an "innovation exemption" for
Atkins said "jurisdictional ambiguity" and "ill-devised regulation" have long stifled innovation, adding that the SEC's joint efforts with the CFTC are intended to address those issues. The SEC chair also highlighted efforts to "transform the SEC rule book" by streamlining disclosure requirements for companies. "Many disclosure requirements began as a framework to illuminate, but instead they became instruments to obscure, and losing sight of materiality as its north star, and accumulating new rules without excising the extraneous," he said. "The agency steadily built a disclosure labyrinth so complex and so costly that going and staying public became less and less compelling."
Atkins said the SEC is pursuing changes to make it easier for companies to access public markets, including allowing more flexibility in quarterly and semiannual reporting.
The proposal is viewed as a win for executives who argue current reporting requirements force companies to spend too much time on earnings reports instead of running their businesses. Critics, however, argue that less frequent reporting could reduce
Atkins also highlighted two additional rule proposals intended to recalibrate disclosure requirements and make it easier for companies to go public. He added that the SEC recently moved to roll back the Biden-era climate disclosure rule, drawing applause from audience members.
"We're moving decisively to, as I like to say, make IPOs great again," Atkins said.
