The acting chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission used the opening of the Investment Adviser Association Compliance Conference Thursday to give a laundry list of the short- and long-term priorities he has for the agency.
For the short term, Michael Piwowar said the most important executive order from the Trump administration for the SEC is the 90-day hiring freeze.
He noted that directive applies directly to the SEC because of the way the agency does its hiring while the other orders do not.
Also in the short term (and he said he expects his tenure as acting SEC chair to be short), Piwowar said he has put a hold on Dodd-Frank rule-making to take a fresh look at existing regulations. That way, the agency can take a look at matters that have been overlooked in the six-plus years the SEC has been focused on implementing the law.
“This is a real opportunity to weigh in with the White House on prospective changes,” he said.
In response, IAA president and CEO Karen Barr said she welcomed the approach to take the spotlight off Dodd-Frank and turn it on concerns that hadn’t received SEC attention for a decade and more.
With the pause, Piwowar said there are a lot of smaller mom and pop advisors and other small issues the SEC can now take the time to look at.
“We are at our best when we are a nice boring regulatory agency that does our job,” said the Republican commissioner.
In the long term, after he expects mergers and acquisitions lawyer Jay Clayton to be confirmed as chair, Piwowar said there should be efforts such as education on point-of-sale disclosures to clarify investor confusion about what standard of care they are owed by investment professionals with different labels.
He said the term “financial advisor” means absolutely nothing, but “SEC registered investment advisor” has a very specific meaning, including a fiduciary duty to make decisions that place customers’ financial well-being above their own.