Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White said Tuesday the agency is throwing a bigger spotlight on fintech, including robo-advisors.
“Fintech has the potential to transform the securities industry,” she told the annual capital markets conference of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in Washington, D.C.
As evidence of the regulator’s high interest, White said the SEC will be having the first fintech forum in its history November 14.
White spent a substantial portion of her 45-minute dialogue at the session with SIFMA President and CEO Ken Bentsen on the SEC's focus on the asset management industry and registered investment advisors.
“There is no greater protection the SEC provides retail investors than boots-on-the-ground oversight of RIAs,” White said.
While there has been a 20 percent increase in RIA examiners with new hires and a shifting of some broker examiners to advisor duty, White said the SEC is significantly under-resourced in advisor oversight.
She added the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is likely to heighten the growth of the advisor industry.
She noted there have been 2,000 more RIAs added to SEC oversight in the last two years.
White added the SEC is coordinating with DOL on the "best interest" standard for advisors to pension funds, noting there is overlap in the industries both agencies regulate.
While saying, as she has before, that her staff has provided an outline to the SEC's commissioners for a uniform fiduciary duty for investment advisors and broker-dealers, she said the SEC will not be formally considering a proposal “any time soon.”