“Even gold medalists need to practice and hone their craft” says a typically bullish Gary Gensler in the introduction to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) strategic plan for the fiscal years 2022-26. The regulator’s chair says the plan will enable it to “continue to bring a skilled and steady hand to the capital markets of a changing world”.
The plan focuses on three main objectives that it says will advance its mission.
- Protect the investing public against fraud, manipulation, and misconduct.
- Develop and implement a robust regulatory framework that keeps pace with evolving markets, business models, and technologies. and
- Support a skilled workforce that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive and is fully equipped to advance agency objectives.
“Our capital markets touch all Americans’ lives, whether they’re saving for the future, borrowing for a mortgage, taking out an auto loan, or working for a company that raises money from the public,” said Gensler.
Aggressive and consistent
The plan promises to “ensure the law is enforced aggressively and consistently” and emphasizes that “enforcement is about following the facts and the law”. And the also SEC promises to “deploy its resources in ways that center on the interests of the investing public”.
While pledging to deliver “consistent and efficient regulation and enforcement”, the SEC also stresses that “accountability and deterrence are core goals of the enforcement programme”. And it commits to developing “cutting-edge data analysis that helps accomplish its regulatory mission”.
Gensler’s introduction clearly states that, “we can’t take our leadership in capital markets for granted. Technology and business models always are changing, and it is important for our agency to evolve in kind”. There’s plenty in the plan about the need to focus on digital finance, cybersecurity, and increased cross organization and cross-border cooperation.
Diversity and inclusion
There’s also a strong commitment to improving diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity among SEC staff – a recognition that a motivated workforce drawn from a variety of backgrounds can best deliver on the objectives outlined elsewhere.
The SEC oversees annual trading of approximately $118trn in US equity markets, $2.8trn in exchange-traded equity options, and $237trn in the fixed income markets. It also reviews disclosures and statements from around 5,248 exchange-listed public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of $51trn.
More than 29,000 registered entities collectively employing at least one million people in the US come under the SEC’s ambit, along with 24 national securities exchanges, nine credit rating agencies, seven active registered clearing agencies and a number of other bodies including FINRA.